Water poured in through Ravenna resident Tracy Smith de Sedas’s locked cellar door, finally blowing it open. The bottom of her utility sink was barely visible, and her washer and dryer were floating.
Unable to believe what she was seeing, Smith de Sedas turned to social media on Aug. 3 and 17, posting pictures and videos of the flood water rising in the basement of her Myrtle Street home.
Sewage water rose up from her floor drains. All in all, Smith de Sedas said the Aug. 3 storm left 3 feet of water in her basement and the Aug. 17 storm left nearly 4 feet.
The National Weather Service’s official tally had Ravenna receiving 3.52 inches from noon to 2:30 p.m. on Aug. 3 and 3.02 inches from 5 to 7 p.m. on Aug. 17. Ravenna and county EMS officials said they fielded dozens of calls from across the county, all related to flooding, wind and other storm damage.
“A rain event that brings two and a half inches in an hour, nobody has a storm system that will handle that,” Ravenna Engineering Technician Gary Jarosz said. “Short period of time, a lot of water just overwhelms. Some areas are low and that’s where water’s going to go.”
Anticipating questions by city officials, Jarosz is mapping flood reports.
“I’m kind of predicting the future of what’s going to happen. It’s a planning thing for engineering. It’s a knowledge thing for city hall and city council. There’s going to be a meeting. City council is going to want to know,” he said.
Portage County Emergency Management Agency Director Ryan Shackelford said his office fielded “countless” calls after the Aug. 17 storm. Most callers said they’d experienced flooding after the Aug. 3 storm, as well.
Calls from Ravenna, Ravenna Township and Rootstown were mostly about flooding, while reports from Kent and Mantua were about wind damage, said EMA Deputy Director Brett Lee.
Since Smith de Sedas’ house is a short distance from Main Street, where paving work has been ongoing, Smith de Sedas’ mother Jane Thompson wondered if the flooding might be related to runoff. Ravenna City Engineer Bob Finney said no, it was a matter of too much rain in too short a time.
To try to avert future problems, city crews are running cameras down every drainage pipe in the city and flushing them as needed, Finney said.
However, since the city only has one camera, one jet to clean pipes by blowing pressurized water through them and one vactor machine that both jets the pipes and sucks debris out of holes dug to reach them, the work will take some time.
“The city storm pipes are not sized to accommodate the volume of rain water that was received in such a short time frame,” Finney said. “As evidenced across Northeast Ohio, many towns are struggling with this issue.”
Unfortunately, since no state of emergency was declared, there’s not much EMA can do. FEMA money is not an option and, unless people have specific clauses on their insurance policies, the best they can do is call United Way’s 211 number, Lee said.
Through 211, callers can be linked with local nonprofit organizations that can help remove damaged furniture, appliances, carpeting and drywall, address mold issues and perhaps even help financially, he suggested.
Unless those organizations can provide a bit of financial help, there is no local money available, Lee said. He advised people to protect their belongings as much as possible, as well as to review renters and homeowners insurance policies to make sure they include coverage for surface water and backups.
“The biggest thing is, in basements, try to get things up off the floor and into plastic storage bins,” Lee said. “Don’t have any personal belongings in boxes, stuff that you’re worried about or afraid of losing. Make sure you have a backup sump pump.”
Even though EMA cannot help now, Lee urged residents to report any damage. Should another heavy rain incident occur, EMA can use the data to apply for projects that will hopefully mitigate future damage, he said. The same holds true if the state does declare an emergency.
None of this helps Smith de Sedas. All her basement belongings were ruined, as were her dehumidifier, a fan, a water heater, furnace, washer and dryer. To guard against damage she knew any older home might experience, she’d placed everything on pallets when she moved in three years ago.
The pallets didn’t help. They floated, ending up on top of the washer and dryer.
“That was a gas dryer. It was floating, still attached to the gas line. I was waiting for my home to blow up. I couldn’t get into the sewage water that also had electrical stuff in it. I didn’t know what to do,” Smith de Sedas said.
When the water receded, Smith de Sedas’s landlord got to work. He shut the main gas line off, and Smith de Sedas said he has been “phenomenal” about helping her replace the appliances and clean up.
“He waived two months of my rent, so that’s going to help me replace my appliances, which I’m not doing right now because I don’t want to have to replace them again. Everything’s mostly been removed. It’s been scrubbed. We’re mostly working on mold prevention,” she said.
Though she declined to provide her address or landlord’s name, Smith de Sedas said he is investigating ways to prevent future occurrences.
Regardless, Smith de Sedas said her 9-year-old daughter remains scared of storms, requesting to go to grandma’s house each time it starts raining.
“The sound of that storm door blowing open and the water coming down the stairs, it just traumatized her. It was an indoor waterfall. I can’t even get the sound of my head, and I’m an adult,” she said.
Wendy DiAlesandro is a former Record Publishing Co. reporter and contributing writer for The Portager.