Flooding disrupted school operations, forced evacuations and closed roads Monday.
As of 10:45 p.m. Monday, closed roads included US 224, between SR 100 and SR 67; SR 101, between CR 13 and TR 122; SR 67, south of Melmore; and SR 100, south of SR 67.
SR 635, between CR 38 and SR 12, had high water at various locations, and a detour was posted.
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Sandusky River, Feb. 28
In Tiffin, South River Road and Front, Market and Perry streets had been closed due to flooding. Market Street was reopened around 3:20 p.m. Monday. Also, the lower level of Hedges-Boyer Park was closed.
In a release, Tiffin Mayor Jim Boroff requested all residents in low-lying areas in and around Tiffin seek higher ground as soon as possible. Police requested all vehicles be parked in areas well above the expected flood area if possible.
American Electric Power experienced an emergency outage because of a tree on a conductor, and 1,515 customers had been without power in the Tiffin area. As of about 10 p.m. Monday, 175 customers in Seneca County were without AEP-supplied power.
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PHOTO BY JILL GOSCHE
An American Electric Power crew works on US 224 Monday morning.
Upper Sandusky Exempted Village School District and Mohawk and Seneca East local school districts canceled school Monday because of flooding.
"There were some roads where the berm had washed away and there was concern that some sections of the road may be washed out. Water was running over some of our bridges as well," Seneca East Superintendent Michael Wank stated in an e-mail. "We didn't want to chance any parents and students driving through what they might think were high waters only to possibly find the roadway washed out. Our buses probably would have made it, but there was some question about that as well, and we just didn't feel comfortable with the flooding situation."
According to an e-mail from Tom Anway, director of operations for Tiffin City Schools, the major concern for today was the potential for spotty icy roads because of water that had pooled.
Officials will assess conditions starting around 4 a.m. today, it states.
Heidelberg University evacuated nearly 50 students from senior apartments on Walker Street for about three hours Monday.
"The majority of them went to class," said Dustin Brentlinger, dean of student affairs.
Brentlinger said Rock Creek was rising. Officials were not overly worried about homes flooding but were more worried streets would flood and prevent students from leaving the residences, he said.
Students could have arranged to stay with friends, and the residence life office also was setting up space on campus for displaced students. Some faculty and staff called and said they would house students, Brentlinger said.
He said the university would work with students whose vehicles were in its two flooded parking lots to help get them towed.
Flooding in Mansfield is affecting the path mail travels to Tiffin.
Victor Dubina, spokesman for U.S. Postal Service, said the mail processing center, the facility through which Tiffin mail travels, was under water Monday. The mail would would be divided between Akron, Canton and Cleveland facilities starting Monday night, he said.
Dubina said the water covered the work room floor where mail is processed in the back of the facility.
"It was just a few inches," he said.
Dubina said no mail was destroyed, and if there was any damage, it was minimal. Reports staff members received indicated the mail was sitting higher off the ground, he said.
He said he had not heard when staff would be able to reopen the Mansfield facility.
