Lake County Flooding!?!?! (Cleveland, Mentor, Eastlake: loans, insurance, condos)

[paintballer1708]

I was watching new channel 5 last night, a Cleveland channel, and they were talking about the flooding there. And how President Bush has arrived at the scene and it helping out i guess. I have a few questions so i can get a better idea of what is going on over there. I live in western Cuyahoga County so i have no idea what is going on. Everything here is fine.

1. How bad is the flooding and how spread out is the damage?

2. How is the clean up going and is everything getting back to normal?

3. What is being done now to get everything back to normal?

Does anyone on here live in Lake County that can answer these questions? I just got curious because of what i saw on the news last night. Thanks for any replies.

[HAS]

1. It is awful! Tons of homes have flooding up to their first floors and almost everyone here has ruined basements, but the worst of the flooding here in Painesville happened to condos on the banks of the Grand River. The people there had to be evacuated from the second floor (and some even from the rooves) by boat and helicopter. The bridge that allows people to drive past these condos just opened up about a week ago, and every time I drive by there and see the damage, it seriously makes me cry. I feel so awful for those people that have ruined condos. One of my friends' family lived there and their condo is in terrible shape, with nothing being salvageable. Most of the people from these condos are living with family or friends right now, but they were being held at Harvey High School while they found somewhere else to go. Aside from Painesville, the same conditions exist in Fairport Harbor, Madison, and Eastlake. Giant Eagle in Madison was flooded with, not only water, but sewage back-up and will be closed for weeks while the clean-up takes place. They've already thrown out over $1 million worth of products.

2. Well, the clean-up is going slower than anticipated, partly due to continuing rains. In the condos in Painesville, the water (which was previously completely covering cars) is now being pumped out. Whenever I go down there, there are people that live in surrounding houses coming out of their houses COMPLETELY covered in mud, and all of their trash and furniture is covered just as badly.

3. I'm not really sure what's being done besides FEMA coming and Bush coming to declare Lake County a Federal Disaster Area. It really does no one any good because I know for a fact that the people living in the condos in Painesville (the complexes are called Gristmill and Millstone) have no money and will have a hard time repaying loans. Those condos aren't salvageable in my opinion and should be torn down, but that's of course not for me to decide. I just feel awful for all of those people and can only hope that they get as much done for them as the victims of hurricanes and tsunamis get, because it really is that bad.

Thank you for your concern and I hope this helped a little!

[paintballer1708]

Thank you, HAS. I have a better idea now what is going on. These new condos you were talking about, are they new? Its a shame this happened. They better get their act togther and start getting some work done. Ohio doesnt get natural disasters so they should have been prepared and ready for this. The clean up shouldnt be going slow. I agree with you, they should do alot of rebuilding. Some of these homes are ruined. They need to rebuild and be better prepared. This is not common for NE Ohio and if they were ready things would have been better handled.

[HAS]

Well, to answer your first question, the condos that are, in my opinion, ruined weren't the new ones. I think I know which ones you're thinking of, but, no, those aren't them. These ones are old, run-down, and crappy to begin with. Like I said, the people living in them have no money and aren't going to be able to repay loans. And, anyways, who would want to try to fix up/buy new things for an old complex??!! What they need to do is tear those complexes down and rebuild something for these poor people. I mean, the condos were NOT nice to begin with, and were NOT in a nice neighborhood, so it should be obvious to Bush and FEMA that THESE PEOPLE CAN'T AFFORD THIS!!!

And in response to the rest of your statements: you're absolutely right, NE Ohio NEVER has natural disasters, so it's not like we're a Florida or a New Orleans that gets federal money all the time. Something needs to be done quickly, because if I was one of those people, I would be pissed, and from what I've heard, they are. If something doesn't happen quick, there's gonna be some major turmoil, and, lemme tell ya, I'll definitely be involved because, as I wrote before, I personally know people being affected by this, and it ticks me off that everything's taking so long. I mean, what the heck does FEMA have to do that it took them a week to even get up here to begin with? What they saw was everything AFTER an initial clean-up, and Bush didn't even come to Painesville. He went into Mentor, where things weren't even half as bad! So then his reps say, ya know, Bush has seen a flood zone before, he knows what it looks like. I DON'T CARE! Do you think that the people living in the flood zones appreciate hearing that? I wouldn't if I were them. He needed to personally go down there and see what these people are dealing with: the water, the smell, the conditions, the ruined belongings, the displaced families, etc., etc., etc.

All I have to say is, if something better doesn't happen for these people, then I'll be really disappointed in our government and President.

[paintballer1708]

Well if those condos were old then i think they should tear them down and build new ones. Thats what i heard on the news last night, president Bush came and declared a state of emergency and people are also going to get alot of help as far as flood insurance goes. I also heard alot about rebuilding of housing and other things.

I agree 110%, Bush should have went down there to see what these people were dealing with. I have already been disappointed with Bush and our government. I think Bush needs to realize that it was Florida who voted him in, in 2000. And Ohio who got him his second term. Did you realize he turned his back on both of us? Florida in 2005, when hurricane Katrina came through SE Florida and killed 11 people, and now, luckily no deaths here in NE Ohio. He has failed not only this country, but the two states that have helped him into office, the states that he needed to win.

[HAS]

I'm glad FEMA and Bush are considering some rebuilding, but unfortunately, so far I have heard only about cleaning up and repairing those specific condos here in Painesville. I don't really watch the news too much...not enough time in the day. I rely on the Internet for most of my news briefings, so usually I'm a day behind! Maybe things will change since Bush has declared Lake County a Federal Disaster Area. I can only hope...

That's a really good point you make about Florida and Ohio. He should show us a little bit of loyalty!

Here are some pictures of the flooding that I found:









The last three are of the condos in Painesville. The first is from Eastlake. This was the best I could find, but it looks much worse in person, from afar. The last one is really the best because you can see the rooves of cars sticking up out of the water. That just goes to show how high the water really is; before the pictures were taken, then water completely covered those cars. No one could get down there to take pictures until recently because it was too dangerous.

[paintballer1708]

Thanks for the pictures. Now i have a better idea of what is going on. I know they were saying the waters have completely dried up and with all this nice weather we have been having is good for the clean up.

[paintballer1708]

So hows the cleanup going HAS? They have stopped talking about it on the news so i have no idea.

[HAS]

Well, they've kind of stopped talking about it so much on our news as well.

From what I can see, it's progressing. Everyone was let back into their dwellings by the end of last week. There's TONS of garbage. You can make out couches, chairs, tables, and rolled-up carpeting in the piles in front of everyone's houses/condos, and everything is just COVERED in mud. We saw a group of guys trying to clean up a house and, man oh man, they had mud all over them. My uncle is on one of the cleaning crews for the Gristmill Condos in Painesville. He says everything down there is ruined and that the smell is pretty bad. There are still some fairly large puddles down there, but they aren't deep enough to cause problems for clean-up crews. Yes, the weather has helped in drying them up, but it also is making it smolderingly hot for the people that are cleaning up. It's kind of like a "the good-and-the bad" situation.

FEMA did help in establishing Disaster Relief stations where people went and donated food, water, and clothes. One of my friends said that she got a new vacuum cleaner from the Hoover company (I think it was Hoover, but not positive) because they donated 400 brand spanking new ones to the Salvation Army! At first I laughed, and thought, "Wow, was that really necessary?" but then I realized that, yes, it was because she lost EVERYTHING...including her vacuum! It's just amazing to think that for some people, everything is gone and they're going to have to start over. I'm hoping that once school starts back up, the local high schools can raise some money for them...the schools always make such a big difference, and I know the kids would donate to this cause, seeing as most of them were directly effected by it.

So, yes, clean-up is happening, but slowly for some. Hopefully they'll be done soon so that a normal life for these people can resume.

[Marty711]

You folks are confused about the president visiting to declare the county a disaster area.

Bush was in Kirkland Hills for a Blackwell fundraiser that evening. That was scheduled well before the flooding happened. While in town to raise some money, he toured the area. How nice of him, eh?