FEMA to Begin Assessing Ohio’s Lake County Flood Damage

Federal officials who plan to assess flood damage in northeast Ohio and residents still needing to clean up will have to work in searing heat.

The National Weather Service issued a heat advisory for Monday and Tuesday in several parts of the state including soggy Lake County, where 10 inches of rain forced hundreds of people from their homes Friday. One man drowned, authorities said.

The humidity will make temperatures in the lower to mid-90s make it feel like 100 degrees or more, the weather service said. The heat advisory was in effect for much of northern, central, southern and southwest Ohio.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency was scheduled Monday to assess the damage in Lake County. A federal disaster designation would allow flood victims to apply for the government’s assistance.

Some residents who left their homes last week got their first chance Sunday to see the damage caused by the floodwaters. In Painesville, dozens of families were driven by shuttle from a Red Cross shelter to their homes for an hour-long inspection.

At the waterlogged Gristmill condominiums, Deanne Phillipp cried when she saw her home.

“It’s hard to go in there. I can’t go in there. The stink. I’m very picky about my house,” she said.

Phillipp was comforted by her 14-year-old daughter, Jessica, who is undergoing treatment for a brain tumor.

“It’s just stuff, Mom,” Jessica said. “It’ll be OK.”

Landlord Dave Levin, who hired workers to remove soaked carpets, said he expects the cleanup will take a month. Tenants will not be charged rent while their units are restored, he said.

He distributed bottled water to workers and tenants, and offered rubber gloves to people trying to remove valuables.

“I feel sorry for these people,” he said Sunday. “My tenants will get nothing from my insurance.”