Hurricane Force Winds Knocked Loveland September 14, 2008
LOVELAND, OHIO - To many, the event of one year ago seems to too eerie and otherworldly to have ever have happened. To others, the event is still very vivid and bone-chilling. It was one year ago on September 14, 2009 that remnants of hurricane Ike coming from the gulf coast and Texas, collided with a cold front from the north, producing category 1 hurricane force winds in Loveland. It was Sunday afternoon, a rainless day with plenty of sunshine, that turned worlds upside down for weeks as residents lost electric, cable service, the Internet, and land based phone lines. Food that could be cooked on outdoor grills was salvaged from freezers for unplanned cook-outs, and a hot cup of morning mud became a luxury. Hot showers the morning after were taken at a close friend's house. Where to buy gasoline or ice became a closely shared secret shared by cell phone, if you could find a place to plug in your charger.
Loveland school buildings escaped the wind storm with relatively minor damage, however local schools closed because none of the buildings had power. The wind storm did extensive damage to the Dave Evans Baseball Field at
Loveland High School when set of aluminum bleachers became air born and
destroyed the backstop.The High School Homecoming Parade scheduled for the coming Thursday was canceled by the Loveland City Manager.
Loveland/Symmes Fire Chief, Huber said that there were no fires during or after the storm and there
was no loss of life or injuries requiring ambulance assistance, however during the four hours of the windstorm the Department made 62 fire/EMS runs in Loveland,
and 70 in Symmes Township. “132 is a lot of runs,” said Huber. He
estimated that they received 280 calls for service or information
during the four hours of the storm. Huber said the department received calls as residents
experienced anxiety in the storm's aftermath. He said his department was
able to “settle” down emotions and then they could help with getting
residents the help they needed. He said the department helped a few
residents whose needs were food, shelter and medications, and many
calls were received because of anxiety related, heart or breathing
problems.
Huber said that on September 14, 2009, all of Loveland, and a majority of Symmes Township were without electricity
The Clermont County Department of Job and Family Services (DJFS) offered
extended hours to assist low income famlies impacted by the massive windstorm. "We were able to assist more than 1,500 families,” said Clermont DJFS Director Tim McCartney.
Epiphany United Methodist Church offered showers, electricity and Internet access to the community.
Governor Ted Strickland declared a "State of Emergency" and asked President George W. Bush for federal aid to assist local communities with clean-up and recovery. In Clermont County, current Food Stamp recipients could request replacement food stamp
benefits for perishable food lost as a result of the power loss. Families with children, and the elderly and disabled individuals who were not at the time receiving Food Stamp benefits could apply for assistance to replace food loss. Ohio Tax Commissioner Richard A. Levin granted extensions to individuals and
business taxpayers
who had tax returns or bills due.
Hoxworth Blood Center issued an emergency plea for donors to replenish their group O positive and O negative blood inventory.
Two days after the storm, and while clearing debris, Chris Kubicki, a co-owner of the Loveland Greenhouse said , “Well at least no one was hurt.” On that Sunday
afternoon, she saw a large piece of metal roofing come off her Loveland
Greenhouse building on Lebanon Road. She said it was “just floating”
through the air, and then was caught perilously high in a nearby tree.
She and her fellow workers at the time were trying to put their stock
of fall plants inside to protect them from the high 50-60 mph wind. It
was then that she ordered her employees to run away from the building
that was loosing its roof, and the other buildings that are made of
glass. They took shelter in a nearby car in the parking lot. The next
thing Chris saw was a utility pole with a transformer crash to the
ground. She then started to think the auto wasn't the safest place to
be, but with the building coming apart, and electric lines scattered
about, couldn't think of another place to go.
Chris Springborn and Casey Smeller had been practicing the new sport of
“Rip-Sticking” on Wall Street for months and were becoming quite proficient. During the height of the windstorm, Springborn and Smeller, taking
advantage of the wind and the closed street, took a picnic canopy top,
and did some wind-surfing up Wall Street. Springborn later cooked steak, chicken, and vegetable shish-ka-bobs on
his gas grill. He and his wife enjoyed the candle-lit (well... Colman
lantern-lit) dinner on their back porch, under an almost full moon that
kept Loveland relatively well lit throughout the night. Their son Cas,
later invited other neighborhood boys to camp on the porch for the
night.
All Loveland neighborhoods were filled on Monday with couples and
families on walking tours, grilling their midday meals on gas grills,
sitting just inside their garages reading, or eating outside in the sunlight. At
almost every house, homeowners were doing the unwelcome yard clean-up,
many had only debris to rake to the street, the one, or two-foot end
sections of tree limbs that were damaged by last summer's cicada brood.
Where the cicadas had cut slits to lay eggs during August, the tree limbs were ready to
shed the weakened branches. Many trees, already under severe stress
from many too wet springs in recent years, and 2007 severe
drought, were an easy target for the high winds. Most, uprooted trees
had virtually no visible root system at all. Many strong trees lost
large branches, landing on cars, houses, play-sets, and out buildings.
Some utility poles cracked in-half, with the help of leaning trees.
Almost every neighborhood had at least one street closed because of
downed trees and power lines. St. Rt. 48 in Clermont County had two
such sections closed, with large downed trees hanging in power lines
and crossing the roadway. Fallis Road was closed early in the storm on
Sunday when a tree fell across the road, with some branches breaking
the top of a utility pole. The road, leading to Loveland High School,
was still closed to traffic, late on Tuesday morning.
When the sun began to settle on Monday, and electric service was
returning to sections of town, the inside work began in many
households, as there were refrigerators, and freezers to clean,
guessing which food items had weathered the storm, and which had to be
tossed. It was time to pack the dishwasher, run a load of clothes, and
check to see whether cable service was on yet. At 8 PM a sense of
normalcy was drifting over town, when the silenced, carillon bells at City Hall
again sang out the hour, and the full moon's brightness was helpful to
those many parts of the community still without electric service.
Click HERE to view more photos from the 2008 wind storm.
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