Storms dump heavy rains, wind on Sandusky, Ottawa counties

Daniel Carson, Fremont News-Messenger
·2 min read
Linden Avenue, in Gibsonburg, was one of many flooded streets in Gibsonburg Tuesday. Many residents lost power, as storms dumped heavy rains in Sandusky and Ottawa County on Monday night.
Linden Avenue, in Gibsonburg, was one of many flooded streets in Gibsonburg Tuesday. Many residents lost power, as storms dumped heavy rains in Sandusky and Ottawa County on Monday night.

FREMONT — Residents in Sandusky and Ottawa counties got a rude overnight awakening as strong lines of thunderstorms battered Northwest Ohio and left scattered power outages into Tuesday morning.

Lisa Kuelling, director of Sandusky County Emergency Management Agency, said the most widespread remaining issue countywide Tuesday morning is power outages.

"Those are spread throughout the county," Kuelling said.

Severe weather: So, your power goes out. What happens to the food in your refrigerator and freezer?

Kuelling said six county roads were closed due to high water as of 11:30 a.m.

She said there were residents with flooded basements and a lot of debris, tree limbs and bushes on properties and roads throughout Sandusky County.

The Sandusky County EMA office gauge reported a wind speed of 58 miles per hour at 10:30 p.m. Monday.

"I'm sure we had gusts that were higher than that," Kuelling said.

A Great Blue Heron looks for a meal, as the Muskellunge Creek flooded much of Sycamore Hills golf course in Fremont.
A Great Blue Heron looks for a meal, as the Muskellunge Creek flooded much of Sycamore Hills golf course in Fremont.

Kuelling said her office did not have final numbers on possible rain totals from the storms, but she heard estimates ranging from 3 to 5 inches.

There were two rounds of storms Monday night into Tuesday morning that downed power lines and flooded roads and left tens of thousands in the dark, according to the Akron Beacon Journal.

There were no confirmed tornadoes in the region, but wind gusts reportedly topped 70 mph in some communities.

The National Weather Service in Cleveland issued a severe thunderstorm warning for Sandusky County around 10:15 p.m. Monday night, according to the Sandusky County EMA Facebook page.

NWS warned residents of possible hazards including 60 mile per hour wind gusts and penny size hail, with expected damage to trees and power lines.

Mike Snider, Port Clinton's mayor, said he only saw a few tree limbs down and minor flooding in the city after the two overnight thunderstorms went through Ottawa County.

"To be honest, I slept through the first one," Snider said.

Snider said he went down to the Port Clinton Fire Department when the second storm came through.

He said there was heavy rain, lightning and wind that accompanied the second round of storms, which lasted about 8-10 minutes.

The NWS issued flash flood warnings early Tuesday morning for Sandusky and Ottawa counties.

Those warnings expired around 8:45 a.m.

dacarson@gannett.com

419-334-1046

Twitter: @DanielCarson7

This article originally appeared on Fremont News-Messenger: Sandusky and Ottawa counties battered by heavy rain, wind in storms