Statehouse News Bureau

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63 Ohio Counties Receive "State Of Emergency" Status

By Jo Ingles

Published July 22, 2019 at 9:04 PM EDT

Nearly three quarters of Ohio’s counties have received a “state of emergency” declaration because of severe weather last month.

Gov. Mike DeWine has declared a “state of emergency” in 63 of Ohio’s 88 counties where severe weather caused serious highway damage in June. The heavy rain and flash floods compromised the integrity of roads and bridges. Some of them still remain closed or have lane restrictions. DeWine says in a statement that this proclamation will allow ODOT and local governments to access federal emergency relief funds that are needed to help fix the damage. This is in addition to the state of emergency DeWine declared for 10 counties hit by tornadoes in May.

Counties included in today's proclamation are: Adams, Ashland, Ashtabula, Athens, Belmont, Brown, Butler, Carroll, Clermont, Clinton, Columbiana, Coshocton, Crawford, Cuyahoga, Delaware, Erie, Fairfield, Fayette, Franklin, Gallia, Geauga, Greene, Guernsey, Hamilton, Harrison, Highland, Hocking, Holmes, Huron, Jackson, Jefferson, Knox, Lake, Lawrence, Licking, Lorain, Madison, Mahoning, Marion, Medina, Meigs, Monroe, Morgan, Morrow, Muskingum, Noble, Perry, Pickaway, Pike, Portage, Preble, Richland, Ross, Scioto, Stark, Summit, Trumbull, Tuscarawas, Union, Vinton, Warren, Washington, and Wayne.