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Though much of the talk about three tornadoes that struck last week has focused on West Virginia, the twisters were born in Washington County, where damage was significant. But though state help is already on the way in the Mountain State, with the hope that a federal declaration will be made soon, assistance may be harder to come by in Ohio.
According to Washington County Emergency Management Director Richard Hays, only occupied residences count as "damaged property," though he is still sending all his documentation to the state for assessment.
“For the county … I’ve been talking to them and making sure they’re tracking everything so they’ll be able to turn that in for possible reimbursement from the state,” he said. “So once the state gets everything from all of the counties involved they’ll look and see what threshold we’re at.”
He's referring to the infrastructure damage such as roads and bridges, as the potentially EF2 tornado tore up everything in its path. Still, Hays and Washington County Engineer Roger Wright said they do not think those damages will reach the level of warranting federal disaster reimbursement.
Commissioner Charlie Schilling suggested commissioners could write up a declaration for the state because of the severity of the flooding and wind damage.
“When it comes to gaining any type of resources for a storm of this magnitude … any types of resources that we can help bring into the county I think we need to follow that closely and decide whether we want to do that,” he said.
Most residents would likely agree the answer is yes, please give it a try.
Don't let all the good communication and coordination, and the willingness of local crews to exhaust themselves on cleanup and repair, obscure the fact the Washington County DOES need help.