Effects of Hurricane Ike in Inland North America - Ohio and Michigan

Ohio and Michigan

Ohio was hit extremely hard by the storm. The remnants of Ike caused a total of 2.6 million power outages in the state of Ohio, including 370,000 outages in the state capital of Columbus. Many of the citizens in Columbus were without power for close to a week, because 25 percent of the AEP company's workers were in Texas helping crews there restore electricity to the millions who lost power because of Hurricane Ike.

In Cincinnati, the effects of this storm have become known as The Cincinnati Blackout. Wind gusts of over 75 mph (121 km/h) were recorded in Cincinnati, Dayton and Columbus, which is equivalent to sustained wind levels found in a Category 1 hurricane. Additionally, a state of emergency was declared in Ohio on Monday by Governor Ted Strickland. On September 16 and 17, Governor Strickland took a tour of the heavily damaged areas, particularly in Cincinnati, Columbus and Dayton to survey the damage.

The Cincinnati metropolitan area was very hard hit, with over 927,000 households losing power in that region (approximately 2.1 million people). A Duke Energy spokesperson said “We have never seen anything like this. Never. We’re talking about 90 percent of our customers without power" On September 15, 16 and 17, most of the schools in Hamilton County and Butler County had classes cancelled because of power outages. In the Dayton, Ohio area 300,000 of 515,000 Dayton Power & Light Co. customers lost power at some point following severe wind storms on the afternoon of September 14, according to a company spokesperson. As of Thursday morning, September 18, 90,000 DP&L customers remained without power. Also hard hit were central Ohio (with over 350,000 customers losing power) and northeastern Ohio (with over 310,000 customers losing power). A water emergency was also declared in Butler County as the water supply diminished due to the lack of power, and a "Level One" emergency was declared in the county to encourage people to remain at home, although stopping short of a curfew. A curfew was implemented on September 17 in Carlisle due to increased looting activity as a result of the lengthy power outage and damage.

Agricultural damage was severe, with as much as 20% of the state's total corn crop lost as a result of winds blowing down corn stalks. Some fields were nearly flattened by the hurricane-force wind gusts. Tens of thousands of people also lost power in northwest Ohio where widespread outages and damage were reported in the Lima and Findlay areas as the center of the storm tracked just to the north and west. Some of the most significant damage there included a radio tower that collapsed and a church that was heavily damaged.

In Mount Healthy, a tree crushing a house resulted in one fatality, and two others died when a tree crashed onto a motorcycle parade in Hueston Woods State Park near Oxford. A similar incident in Lorain County also resulted in the death of a young boy who was hit by a fallen tree limb. An indirect death in Hilliard was caused by electrocution while working on a generator, and another in St. Bernard was caused by a candle fire while power was out.

The southern part of Michigan sustained heavy rainfall resulting in many houses being flooded, partially due to Ike and partially due to the frontal boundary. Two deaths were reported in Michigan - both drownings, one in a ditch and one in a vehicle. Tornado warnings were also issued across Southern Michigan, for Van Buren, Kalamazoo, and Calhoun counties.