Highland County EMA director shares update on Aug. 11 storms

Highland County Economic Development Director David Bushelman provided an update on the Aug. 11 storms affecting Highland and surrounding counties at the start of Highland County commissioners’ Wednesday, Aug. 12 meeting.

The county was under severe thunderstorm and/or tornado warnings Tuesday afternoon and evening, with strong winds, plus torrential rain and lightning, causing property damage and widespread power outages.

“Our highest power outage was at 5:30 last night when 41.65 percent of the county was out of power,” Bushelman said. “We're still at 20 percent as of a little bit ago that’s still out of power.

“Anybody on the north side of town, AEP just lost one of their three legs, so we've got major electrical problems at the EOC, Health Department, HI-TEC Center, YMCA, the Sheriff's Office was on generator. It was a hard hit when that kicked out. As Commissioner Britton and I were talking, that's usually what starts frying computers, HVAC systems, so it's hard telling if we're going to have damage to our buildings from that.”

As of this article’s posting, poweroutage.us lists the percentage of Highland county residents without power at 7.69 percent.

Bushelman said the storm itself appeared to be a derecho, defined by the National Weather Service as “a widespread, long-lived wind storm that is associated with a band of rapidly moving showers or thunderstorms.

“It started out in Iowa and came all the way through,” Bushelman said. “Basically, a derecho is 58-mile-an-hour winds over a four-hour period for 240 miles, so we're definitely in that, and last check with the Weather Service, there's another derecho building out in Iowa, so we may not even be done yet.”

Bushelman said that he is seeking storm damage reports to gauge the storm’s impact on the community. Forms can be accessed on the Highland County EMA website (highlandcountyema.com) or Facebook page or directly at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdegNPweY4ZOSueMgz7twdVo3TG5_z5uOqvek8ascGnFi2riw/viewform. He added that he and Clinton County EMA, Fayette County EMA and Ohio EMA were “getting ready to go do damage assessments.

“We're looking at about 20 [damaged] structures so far that we know of,” Bushelman said. We're going to do a lot of driving around, especially in the Mowrystown area. That seems to be the hardest hit. We had one damage north of 50, but everything else has been south of 50, and most of that has been Mowrystown and east."

According to a Wednesday evening email from Highland County Health Department Emergency Response Coordinator​ Brittane Dance, "Team Rubicon USA will be in Highland County tomorrow, Thursday, August 13, conducting damage assessments in the area. If you see their volunteers — known as 'Greyshirts' — out and about, please give them a warm welcome.

"Team Rubicon USA is a veteran-led organization that responds to disasters nationwide, and their assessment team is here to help us understand the impact and plan next steps for recovery." 

Bushelman said that first responders were busy throughout Tuesday night, particularly from around 3-11 p.m. when most of the calls for service were received.

“My hat’s off to communications officers out there and to the sheriff,” Bushelman said. “They handled well over 125 calls for service. That was just second shift. 

“Talking to Sergeant [Scott] Miller, that's probably a low number because there were probably several calls that did not get created, so hat’s off to the sheriff's office. Paint Creek Fire was out. They handled about 30 calls. Marshall Fire Department was out. Southern Highland Joint, Mowrystown, and then Eastern Joint, which covers Clay Township, they were out, as was ODOT, county engineer’s office, City of Hillsboro, and there were several townships out.”

As of Wednesday, there was also still damage to area roads with flooding and downed trees and lines. Eastern Joint Fire and EMS announced Wednesday morning that state Routes 134 and 138 had closures near Buford, while the Highland County Sheriff’s Office asked drivers to “be cautious” traveling on roadways south of U.S. Route 50.

“People traveling toward Cincinnati earlier this morning couldn't make it,” Highland County Sheriff Sanders said. “I mean, they couldn't find an open road this morning.”

For those who are still without power and/or internet, Highland County Economic Development Director Julie Bolender said there is work space available on the second floor of the Hillsboro Business Complex for area business representatives. To reserve a spot, call (937) 205-2657.

Updates are being posted on the Highland County EMA website and Facebook page, while law enforcement agencies and fire departments are sharing information on road closures. The Highland County Health Department also posted information about food safety during long-term power outages.