Recordpub.com - Portage sees $150,000 in Ike damages Not all communities report losses; can recoup funds

By Colin McEwen
Record-Courier staff writer
Hurricane Ike's violent wind storm last month was one of the costliest natural disasters in Ohio history " and it also hit close to home in Portage County.
Local officials are hoping to recover some of those costs from the Federal Emergency Management Agency in the near future.
Jon Barber, director of the Portage County Office of Homeland Security, said costs from the storm reported to the county so far total about $150,000.
Agencies and municipalities can collectively submit a request to FEMA, but in order to be reimbursed, the costs from the storm must equal $3.11 per person in the county. The problem, Barber said, is that less than half of the municipalties and agencies have submitted losses, and time is running out for the others.
"It's imperative that everyone turn in their losses, even if its only $300," said Barber, adding that work hours during the storm and immediate aftermath qualify for reimbursement. "As we continue to collect data, I would encourage any of the townships, cities and villages to submit their data for possible reimbursement from FEMA."
The city of Ravenna shelled out almost $90,000 as a result of the storm, with most of those costs incurred during the cleanup.
Don Kainrad, the city's service director, distributed a breakdown of the non-insurable costs to the city at Monday night's council meeting.
The city spent $26,451 for the street department in the aftermath of the storm; $2,392 for the police department for regular and overtime hours; and $3,384 for fire department regular and overtime hours.
Covered by FEMA are building losses, manpower and equipment needed for the cleanup; for street and road departments and police and fire departments.
In order to keep up with the massive clean-up effort, Ravenna hired three separate tree contractors and an electrical contractor for a total of $57,005.
Barber said he could not determine the costs covered by insurance companies to the homeowners in Portage County. There were countless cases of damage to private property. Fallen trees landed on houses and cars. Cases also involved damage to windows, siding and walls.
Winds from the hurricane will cost insurance companies at least $553.1 million to cover property damage and other losses in Ohio, rivaling the state's costliest natural disaster in recent decades, the Associated Press reported Tuesday.
Kainrad noted this was "one of the worst" storms he seen in 30 years of service to the city, noting a 30-minute wind storm in 2001 caused $300,000 in damage to the city.
"As far as the storm itself, I have never seen high sustained winds for a prolonged period of time," he said, adding that many of the weakened limbs are still falling from trees. "We were very fortunate that heavy torrential rains did not come with it. It could have been several hundred thousand dollars."