Ohio Flooding

I also live in Ottawa, but I live more out in the country. The fields were extremely flooded and some still are. My grandmother was evacuated from her house on Main Street. I guess we got hit the hardest, as there's a story about our town that aired on the Today Show the other day. It's starting to go down now though. I can't imagine what kind of debris we'll have all over the place afterwards...

-Joe

Hey fellow Ottawans!

Anyway, I posted a couple more photos on my Flickr, I'm going into town now to help clean up. Its going to be a long few weeks ahead.

My Uhaul center is offering any victims of the flooding who need storage, one month free at our location. As is all U-haul storage facilities. If you know anyone in need please let them know we are here to help

My heart goes out to everyone who was flooded!

It's hard to believe that I live just an hour and a half south of all of this devastation, and we are experiencing a drought! It has rained very little here in the past two months.

I have seen the parking lot and parts of the midways at CP under water. Though the most bizarre thing that I've seen at the Point is when the lake rose and completely wiped out the beach. The water was up to the sidewalk running behind the The Breakers. According to the experts this occurred due to a major shift of winds from west to east over the lake not excessive rainfall.

Lake Erie water levels are for the most part governed by how much water enters the lake via the "upper lakes" (Huron, Michigan, Superior). The floods within the LE watershed have little affect on lake levels. Due to the orientation of LE, wind shifts can cause what is known as seiche effects. NE winds cause high water in the western basin and SW winds result in low water levels in the western basin. You can literally watch this much like a tide, but driven by wind, not the moon. A combination of high water levels and NE winds caused a major flooding event in '98 (not caused by rain within the LE watershed) and levels have been quite low since.

That's a lot of flooding. We've been cleaning up after a EF-3 tornado up here in Michigan.

Things here are slowly getting better. Here in Ottawa there are a few rodes still impassable due to cleanup and other debris. Also, the whole town smells like Dead Fish, rather disgusting. School has been postponed for a few days, mostly because they are giving family's time to clean up and figuring out what to do with the Catholic School student. Their building was flooded so they are moving them to public schools temporarily.

As of right now, many businesses are closed for cleanup. Some were so severely damages that they are slated for destruction. The number at the moment right now is not available, but one of which is the local McDonalds (they had plans to build a new building by years end so they are getting a head start). Burger King is rumored to be closed indefinatly till further notice. I work at the local Arby's and our sales have doubled over previous projections. Both of the main gas stations in town are closed, one of which is rumored for demolition and rebuilding. The infamous bar, the Tin Lizy Bar is rumored to be demolished with no word on rebuilding, the same may be true with Big Daddys Carry Out.

Piles and Piles of trash consisting of everything from furniture to drywall can be seen for blocks. The community is really coming together in the cleanup with numerous donations and just people giving a helping hand. Makes me proud of my community that everyone helped out rather than making more problems and complaining. There was no room for complaint as everyone was effected, even if not directly.

*** Edited 8/29/2007 5:55:50 AM UTC by BGRooDoG***

My relatives own a store in Downtown Findlay and after the water went down last week we found that the store was under at least 3 feet of water. Insurance will only cover 25% of our policy, which is only a fraction of what we really needed. But at least we aren't getting the insurance company that tries to decide to dodge claims however they can.

The store had two different kind of policies, one that came included different disasters that involve the building itself, such as plumbing/sewer backup. The other was a seperate policy just for natural disaster type floods.

Initially, the insurance company asked for 20 pictures and said this kind of flood wasn't covered. But my uncle was smart, and asked what kind of floods do they cover. They didn't have an answer, so they sent us a check, we didn't agree with the price, so we signed the back identifying that we don't agree with the price so that they don't deny us of future claims.

If you're a homeowner, don't assume you have coverage for water or flooding. Call your insurance agent and check. Like khommy84 said, you usually need additional coverage. In many cases, it's actually pretty cheap, but it's not there by default.

If you're a homeowner, and you've talked to your insurance agent about adding additional coverage for water backup, don't assume he/she actually added it. Make sure you get an updated copy of your policy. It's bad when you have basement water, think you have coverage, only to call your agent who tells you it was never added.

We took 2.5 inches in an hours time yesterday. What a downpour. Only had 8-10 inches of standing water, though. Nothing like the Ohio flooding.

Insurance companies sure do try to weasel their way out of covering things. :)

As far as I know, there's only one company in the US that provides flood insurance - and that's the government. It's called the National Flood Insurance Program and is run by FEMA. Maybe different parts of the country are different. But, I know in South Florida where my place is, that's the only option I had. I live in zone 1 which is the worst for hurricane and flood insurance because I'm only a couple blocks from the ocean. I think my flood insurance (including storm surge) is only like $300-$400 a year. So, I think that's pretty cheap. I'm sure in areas like Ohio that aren't prone to flooding from hurricanes, insurance would be even cheaper. I'll never go without flood insurance again, no matter where I live.

Tim, I believe that in other areas of the country, private insurance companies do offer flood insurance, or at the very least a supplemental insurance for flood-related damages.

Yeah, the only reason they don't offer it in Hurricane country is because the risk is too high (for them). Its pretty much guaranteed that once a year, you will have some flood damage.

There are two different types of coverage that apply to water damage. Water backup coverage covers water that comes from inside the house - sewer backup, sump pump failure, etc. Flood insurance covers damage caused by water coming into your house above ground.

My insurance agent told me flood insurance rates are set by the government, but I think the coverage itself is from the insurance company. I don't have it, so I don't know the specifics. According the to FEMA web site, you have to live in a community that participates in the National Flood Insurance Program to qualify for that insurance.

And the flood insurance does not cover rain damage. It covers rising ground waters. So if your roof gets blown off and everything gets soaked by the rain, your insurance is not going to cover it.

^ That instance should be covered by regular insurance, right?

Not always.

It's burned people before in Florida. They had insurance to cover wind damage and flood damage, but their insurance refused to cover the rain damage caused after their roof went bye-bye. I think the Fed may have leaned on them to change their tune, but that's how it was at first.

Well, I know I have complete and total coverage for anything that might happen to my place. Rain damage isn't in one of my policies though - like as a separate item. I do have mold and fungi coverage though, so maybe that's related?

To be sure, I think I'll call my insurance company. :)

I would. Remember - insurance companies aren't in the business to pay out to people. It sucks, but its on the individual to make sure their policy covers EVERYTHING they can think would happen.

Kinda like how I don't carry flood insurance because my house isn't in any danger of flooding. To even reach my basement (its a walkout) the creek on the golf course would need to rise about 25 feet. We are uphill of the course, so it would flood the entire course (or at least 99% of it) before it reached our house. Not much point in paying to cover something that will never happen.

In the Noahs Ark flood plain are ya John?