ThisWeek CW 07/12/2012
Recent storms have prompted Canal Winchester officials to examine the city’s emergency plans.
City leaders said although they thought the city did a good job in dealing with the aftermath of the June 29 storms that blew through central Ohio, additional plans and resources could be set in place.
Canal Winchester Councilman Rick Deeds said he was asked about using the community center as an emergency shelter or cooling center in the future.
“We looked into this in the past and we wouldn’t qualify as a Red Cross Emergency Center because they require you to keep a lot of food and bedding on hand that we don’t have storage for, but for a temporary shelter for a few hours or for cooling — that might work,” city Finance Director Nanisa Osborn said.
Councilman Steve Donahue said Indian Trail Elementary School currently is a designated emergency shelter for the city. Councilwoman Bobbie Mershon said planning ahead for backup power to the community center would be helpful in smaller emergencies.
“If we had a plan prepared to get a generator hooked up at the community center so we aren’t scrambling when we need a place for people to go, that would be good,” she said.
Donahue said the city staff “did an excellent job handling the storm” and in cleaning up debris.
“Mayor Ebert was out helping flag people down, (Public Services Director) Matt Peoples was helping his crew, throwing wood into the chipper and generally looking out for the safety and well-being of residents, letting people know when and where they had limbs still hanging,” he said.
Those still dealing with storm debris are asked to place it curbside for city crews to collect; tree branches and trunks larger than 6 inches in diameter will not be collected and will be the responsibility of the property owner.
“Kurtz Brothers will take larger debris, but that will be up to the resident,” Peoples said. “Waste Management will also take debris if it’s in bins, less than four feet long and bundled.”
Information from South Central Power, which supplies electricity to Canal Winchester, said 9,262 Franklin County customers and 34,301 Fairfield County customers lost service from the storm. Power has been restored to all of Canal Winchester, according to the company.
Peoples said crews are continuing to clean up and will be making repairs over the next several weeks.
“We sustained damage to six of the dugouts in Hanners Park,” he said. “One of them, the roof came off. We lost two traffic signals and our pool’s sunshade and some umbrellas were damaged.
“We have insurance for some of the damage and we’re applying for federal funds, so we’re tracking our time and damage expenses for that,” he added.
On June 30, Gov. John Kasich declared a state of emergency in Ohio, followed by President Barack Obama declaring a federal emergency, allowing for support and funds to be released to ease the burden of clean-up efforts.
“Our insurance agent was on site immediately,” city Finance Director Nanisa Osborn said. “One of the coverages we added were traffic signals and we’ve already had two claims for those, so that was a good move for us.
“We’ve also done four FEMA applications over the past five years, so we know what we need to keep track of for that.”
Residents are asked to contact the Canal Winchester Department of Public Services at 834-5100 if they are aware of tree damage that poses a potential danger to the public.
Information from South Central Power, which supplies electricity to Canal Winchester, said 9,262 Franklin County customers and 34,301 Fairfield County customers lost service from the storm. Power has been restored to all of Canal Winchester, according to the company.