Cincinnati Mayor Aftab Pureval issued a declaration of emergency Tuesday evening, citing flooding last Friday through Tuesday afternoon.
"This order provides our City Government the ability to move quickly as needed, and importantly, allows us to pursue further support at the state and federal level," Pureval said in a statement.
Neighborhoods on the East Side of the city — Oakley, Madisonville, Hyde Park, Pleasant Ridge and Mt. Lookout — experienced between five and six inches of rain in about an hour Friday night.
The city's combined sewer system could not handle the volume of water from what Metropolitan Sewer District officials say was a 1,000-year storm.
"No modern sewer system is designed to handle a storm of this magnitude," says an MSD memo published Tuesday. "This extraordinary rainfall produced widespread flash flooding that was intensified by already saturated ground conditions and the high concentration of roads, buildings and other paved surfaces in the affected area."
Another storm Tuesday afternoon caused flooding in many of the same areas.
"The nature and severity of the rainfall our community endured has left severe destruction in many of our neighborhoods," Pureval said in a statement. "Folks throughout our city are going through the unimaginable, trying to pick up the pieces. What is clear as damage assessments continue to come in, as more destruction is reported and evaluated, is that it's incumbent upon us to seek as much assistance as possible."
Pureval says he joined city crews for cleanup efforts on Camberwell Road in Oakley Tuesday.
The declaration will be in place until the emergency conditions no longer exist, but no later than Sept. 15.
What does an emergency declaration do?
Read the full declaration below (article continues after):
The city municipal code lays out the circumstances in which a mayor can declare a public danger or emergency, outlined in Article XVIII:
- A riot, civil disturbance, disorder, or other occurrence that constitutes a clear and present danger to the health, safety and property of citizens, or substantially impairs the functioning of city government
- Any natural disaster or man-made calamity, such as flood, tornado, earthquake or explosion resulting in death or injury, or destruction of property to such an extent that extraordinary measures must be taken to protect the public peace, health, safety or welfare
City code gives the mayor certain powers during an emergency declaration, but they mostly pertain to an emergency related to civil disturbance — things like limiting public gatherings and establishing a curfew.
A spokesperson for the mayor tells WVXU none of those provisions are necessary or planned.
The only relevant portion of the declaration is Sec. 13, which authorizes the city manager to apply for and accept disaster assistance from the federal or state government if any part of the city is declared a disaster area by Hamilton County, the state of Ohio, or the federal government.
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