-The Ohio Insurance Institute says $500 million is a preliminary figure and it could go higher
-Ohio officials say the storm cost local governments at least $34.5 million.
-estimate is based on reports from only 33 of 84 affected counties.

So they're basing the state's damages on a little less than half the affected counties and the number is less than a tenth of the OHII's estimate? Why did they choose the reports from the least damaged areas to estimate the whole state?

My company has an office in Dayton. One of the guys I spoke with said they had hurricane force winds for several hours, but no rain. The damage was almost all wind related (trees down, houses, cars damaged, no power etc).

It was a sh*tty day to work in media and be on call.

I was all relaxed and watching The Simpsons. It was a nice evening.

Then my editor calls me with "WE NEED ART OF THE DAMAGE!"
-"Damage? What damage?"
"WIND! Trees down!"
-"Alrighty, where do you want me to go?"
"ANYWHERE!"

I had the misfortune of being at the Bengals/Titans game during that mess. And when we went to Frisch's on 5th street in Covington after the game, they were closed because they had no power. A sucky ending to a sucky day.

That's what people get for living in a state right in the path of hurricanes. MOVE SOMEWHERE ELSE, MORANS!!!

It was a total mess for days...and we only had the leftovers.

I was in Ohio at the time. Calm Sunday afternoon, then farking 80 mph winds out of nowhere. Being Ohio, there are cornfields all over the place and not much natural wind blockage. I saw damage all over the place.

I WENT BACK TO OHIO
BUT MY CITY WAS GONE
THERE WAS NO TRAIN STATION
THERE WAS NO DOWNTOWN
SOUTH HOWARD HAD DISAPPEARED
ALL MY FAVORITE PLACES
MY CITY HAD BEEN PULLED DOWN
REDUCED TO PARKING SPACES
A, O, WAY TO GO OHIO

/Unavailable for comment

It was a pretty odd afternoon. My house has trees all up in the front/side yard that we nervously eyed. Came out pretty lucky, the wind only pulled down the janky roof on the carriage house out back. We never lost power either, I think we were like one of 20 houses in the Columbus metro area that had power. the next day on the way to work was a fun bus ride. Lines down, branches still in the road, weeee.

Looks like I got out of there just in time. I left for Afghanistan that same day before it really got started.

I live in Cincinnati and didn't have power for 3 days after do to all the damage the fallen trees caused. There wasn't any rain but there were hurricane-force winds most of the day. I remember I went shopping on Sunday afternoon and had to detour back on the way home because a tree had fallen clear across the road and blocked all four lanes. Some folks in Dayton were without power for over a week. The funny thing is, in most parts of the country people will stock up on milk and batters before the storm hits. Cincinnatians will do it the day after. Go figure.

Ms.Maus: It was a pretty odd afternoon. My house has trees all up in the front/side yard that we nervously eyed. Came out pretty lucky, the wind only pulled down the janky roof on the carriage house out back. We never lost power either, I think we were like one of 20 houses in the Columbus metro area that had power. the next day on the way to work was a fun bus ride. Lines down, branches still in the road, weeee.

I was shocked to see all of the people without power in Columbus for so long. Got out just in time! Didn't seem too bad in the Cleveland area (at least near me).

40below: That's what people get for living in a state right in the path of hurricanes. MOVE SOMEWHERE ELSE, MORANS!!!

I was thinking that the whole time. In Kentucky, we got it really bad as well. Some places didn't get electricity back for two weeks, a few counties dismissed school for a week, etc.

-Insert "You have electricity in KY?" joke here.

Chemguy: It was a total mess for days...and we only had the leftovers.

Yeah... and for that I'm damned happy.

I'm north, and I happened to spend that weekend at the 24 Hours of Lemons race in Toledo (plug). We had frog strangling rain Saturday morning, and then it went all clear right at the start of the race. Then it was beautiful weather until 1/2 hour after the end of the race, then it went back to frog-strangling. The wind was "awesome" on the way back home. By the time I got back to my house, the wind was mostly died down but there were trees and stuff everywhere.

Clearly, whoever is in charge of the weather is a motorsports enthusiast.

Also clearly, I'm glad that where I live, this is about the worst the weather will get. (Although some people would choose it over snow... weirdos :) )

wild9: I was in Ohio at the time. Calm Sunday afternoon, then farking 80 mph winds out of nowhere. Being Ohio, there are cornfields all over the place and not much natural wind blockage. I saw damage all over the place.

Yep. "Damage" doesn't always mean "houses blown over." Lots of crop damage all along the path of Ike, during a time of high grain prices and low availability, means a lot of crop insurance money going to agribusiness and a lot more money just plain gone.

ElusiveWookiee: -Insert "You have electricity in KY?" joke here.

Q: What's the difference between a redneck and an asshole?

A: The Ohio River

/Oblig

Fun, fun. I live in the Columbus area. Neighbor's tree blocked the road, I watch four transformers blow down the street, and had no power for a week, which is was really fun since I work from home. 84 of 88 counties declared to be in a state of emergency.

Essentially the entire state was hit by a F1 tornado.

I live in Columbus and got my first taste of hurricane mania the other week. My power went out and all I had was a little pocket flashlight from my car for reading maps. I need to find something stronger, so I figured I'd just go to the store and buy one, right?

Mistake. After visiting three stores and finding nothing, I finally got my hands on a battery-powered lantern with a fluorescent bulb. Score! It was encased in one of those hard plastic clamshells. As I pulled it off the shelf, some woman ran up and grabbed it out of my hand, slicing two of my fingers open. She apologized a billion times as she dug tissues out of her purse and I jumped around and cursed.

I never did get that farking lantern. Some unknown third person took it.

Why do people willing live in areas where this happens all the time?

About one day before Ike hit, I was flamed for being an alarmist when I said that no one less than 100 miles inland was safe.

I replied by reciting a long list of places well inland which were ravaged by various storms; Katrina casused flooding and fatalities as far north as Kentucky, but that drew no publicity because all the big damage was down south. Camille in 1968 caused torrential rains all the way to Chicago.

Ike flooded most of Northeastern Texas, quite a bit of Arkansas and almost all of Missouri.

And yes, there were 100-mph winds and 4 feet of water in the street 100 miles inland.

Hate to say I tolja so. . . . . but I tolja so.

This is one more last laugh I wish I had not had.

Is there a timeline on Ike and the damage in Ohio? I live in Indiana and the next day we got hammered with rain. can a hurricane move that far north in 24 hours?

Hurricane Ike was running 15-20 mph in a nearly due-north course when it hit, so mileage of 360-480/day is likely.

It generally takes a big storm 3 days or more to blow out, so anyone within 1200 miles is in danger. You don't need 120-mph winds to die, and all you gotta do is get killed once to really f up yer day.

Hi in the middle and round at each end!

/Got nuthin.

I hate you submitter, yes it did cause alot of damage in Ohio, we had winds up to 60+ mph and had hundreds of trees down blocking roads and knocking out power for some of us for a week. I lost all the food in the fridge and being stuck at home due to roads blocked from tree's I couldn't even get ice for my beer :p

Here in Columbus, the winds were really bad. My house and car were spared, but I didn't have power for a week. My neighbors weren't so lucky. I'm surprised someone in the national media finally noticed the outage and all the damage.

Yeah the winds were horrible, but I attribute the problems to a weak infrastructure that has been crumbling in this state for the past 30 years.

I didn't lose power, so I was damn lucky.
My office (and the data center we have without a generator) had no power for at least 36 hours.
My friend in Dayton had no power for nine days.

This is insane for 2008.

The Houston Chronicle now has a Lost & Found database for people missing in Ike. The Galveston and island list is now up to about 10 pages.

I wasnt aware that Ohio had electricity.

Are the roads paved too?

I'm in Houston, evacuated (well, actually went to visit my parents in) Lufkin, Texas (yes, right into the very direct path of Ike, same with Rita).

I was without power in Houston for about 2 weeks (11 or 13 days). I still see sections of town without power, and some street lights aren't working, but 99% of town is up and running now. Just wish they would clear all the damned downed trees and other debris people piled up.

The Great Galveston Hurricane is actually credited with a death in NYC, because after it hit, it moved up to the great lakes, reformed, moved east, blew over a sign which fell on a man and killed him.

My point? Storms suck, no matter where you are. Be glad for the minimal damage.

I might have been without power for a while, but I wasn't hurt, none of my friends were, and we all pulled together to help each other out. Plus, I had an excuse to eat out every night, and the no power thing made my 'let's go to this bar and have some drinks together' all the more appealing. Got to hang out with people I haven't really talked to in years. Awesome.

olddinosaur

The biggest problem with Ike was the size of it. It was 3 times larger than most hurricanes. They usually die out long before they leave Texas and might drop some rain on Arkansas and Oklahoma. Ike was monstrous in size (1400 miles in diameter - imagine that it caused rain in Houston, New Orleans and Brownsville, Texas all at the same time) and moving quickly. Even though it was moving fast, it STILL took 12-14 hours to pass over Houston. The end result was that PLENTY of it made it up there. I have a friend in Michigan whose roof fell in from its rain.

/Live in N Houston
//just got power back about an hour ago

40below: That's what people get for living in a state right in the path of hurricanes. MOVE SOMEWHERE ELSE, MORANS!!!

Damn right! I hope everyone had insurance and documentation of their claims, and if they didn't have 10 copies spread around the country, then they should have planned things better!

dg41: Yeah the winds were horrible, but I attribute the problems to a weak infrastructure that has been crumbling in this state for the past 30 years.

I didn't lose power, so I was damn lucky.
My office (and the data center we have without a generator) had no power for at least 36 hours.
My friend in Dayton had no power for nine days.

This is insane for 2008.

It's like a forest fire. The old crap needs to be removed one way or another.

It seems that the areas hardest hit by outages are also the areas where the community whines about excessive tree trimming for power lines.

Remember, it was a downed tree in NE Ohio that caused that big power outage several years back...

alprez:
/Live in N Houston
//just got power back about an hour ago

Congratulations!

Getting a check for $6500 from insurance company for roof damage.

Mr. Gunn: 40below: That's what people get for living in a state right in the path of hurricanes. MOVE SOMEWHERE ELSE, MORANS!!!

Damn right! I hope everyone had insurance and documentation of their claims, and if they didn't have 10 copies spread around the country, then they should have planned things better!

I have my policies in pdf format and stored with an offsite data storage facility with regionally placed redundancies. Doesn't everyone?

/actually do

Proof that God hates Ohio State as much as we do?

/got nuthin

I live in downtown Dayton and there are a couple of folks still without power approaching two weeks. Most people in my neighborhood which is downtown just got their power on around Monday almost 8 days later. Most damage was caused from tree limbs falling. All the old hanging wires combined with old transformers were the problems. The infrastructure in this town is crumbling along with the economy. They just keep building McNeighborhoods on the rural outskirts of town, leaving it without a viable tax base and making everywhere else the same dull homogenized atmosphere. Typical of most places anymore.

The reason they say the repair took so long was due to the power company sending their linemen down south to help with the damage down there. After everything was said and done, I was suprised how people took it in stride. There was no major incidents of any criminal activity or any major social outcries.

That was an interesting night. Didn't lose power, but we lost a lot of trees in the neighborhood. I helped clean up the next day and got to take home some nice logs to carve on.

/tiki carver
//very new at it

I live in Dayton - a big chunk of my roof came off and nearly every house in my neighborhood has damage in the thousands. I am not surprised at all to hear this, in fact it sounds too low.

rostit: I wasnt aware that Ohio had electricity.

Are the roads paved too?

yes on both, we also have guns instead of bow and arrows :p

EnigmaticJoe: After everything was said and done, I was suprised how people took it in stride. There was no major incidents of any criminal activity or any major social outcries.

We have manners. And guns. Lots of guns.

I live in Columbus, Ohio (west side around Hilliard) and we didn't lose power in my general area but my roof lost a bunch of shingles and just about every single condo in my area now has a blue tarp over it to cover all the roof damage until the roofers can fix them all. The roofers are going to be VERY busy. There were a number of trees uprooted signs and lamp posts blown down etc...

Hurricane Ike passed 192 miles frommy home on closest approiach.

I had a liter of Reposado 1800 tequila, a liter of Crown Royal, 28 cans of beer and 10 days' food and water on hand.

I also had my "boogie bag" packed and ready just in case, and my tank topped off. I could be rolling in 5 minutes flat, if need be.

Ike was 350 miles wide in all, 100 on the left and 200 n the right, but as it hit land it rotated, so the worst of the storm was to the north.

Houston Chronic Trickle lists 340 persons missing, but I doubt many of these are dead. Usually they are found, but do not report it, so they stay on the list.

Hey, I was out in that flying the kite that usually serves as a 30' trampoline in an attempt to keep the house from being damaged any more that it already was. Strangely enough, with me living out in the middle of nowhere, I had power back by 3:00 monday morning. My grandparents, living in the suburbs, had power out for a week.

Pretty cool though, I almost died by impalement from a piece of fascia board off the house...

I'm sick and tired of supporting these disaster prone states. They should all move somewhere safe like

My folks live about 20 miles north of Cincinnati (Maineville). They lost a large portion of their roof, as did their neighbor, and all access to their entire neighborhood was blocked by fallen trees. It never rained a drop, just 70-80 mph winds with sunny skies.

My sister in Amelia (a little east of downtown Cincinnati) had a very old and large tree fall on her house, but luckily there was no damage, just lots of firewood.

rostit: I wasnt aware that Ohio had electricity.

Are the roads paved too?

Yep. We've got indoor plumbing, telephones, cable and broadband, too.

East of Cleveland here, along the Amish Frontier. Lotsa trees down near me, didn't lose any on my property. Lost power Sunday night (large maple tree came down over the road about a mile south of me), restored Monday night, lost it again Wednesday morning but back up again that evening.

I learned a long time ago that a nice 6500 watt generator is your best friend. I fired up the generator, plugged it into the side of the house, flipped a few breakers on the transfer box down in the basement and we had power to the lights (first floor and basement only), freezer, fridge, both sump pumps, water pump, furnace, Directv and the 42" plasma. It was rough.

Some of the tonier Cleveland suburbs didnt have power for 3 days...poor babies.

Yeah, Ohio. It was because Ike collided with a strong cold front, strengthening it to give us 75-80 mph winds. Trees are down everywhere, my back yard included.

They said 2 million were without power. I got electricity back 22 hours later which was very fortunate others waited a week. But cable and internet didn't come back for a week--keeping me of Fark all that time.

rostit said...
"I wasnt aware that Ohio had electricity."

Ohio is home to American Electric Power the LARGEST electricity generating utility in the United States.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Electric_Power

"Are the roads paved too?"

Ohio has one of the most highly developed network of roads and interstate highways in the country.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohio#Transportation


You fail at jokes.