The cleanup from flash flooding events earlier this month continues as Hamilton County officials assess damages and ask what can be done to prevent or mitigate future problems.
Storms on July 17 dropped unprecedented amounts of water in a very short amount of time causing flash flooding and sewer backups in portions of Cincinnati, Fairfax, Madeira, Norwood, St. Bernard and Silverton.
According to Hamilton County Emergency Management, one person died and three others were injured when five to six inches of rain fell over a three-hour period, damaging homes and businesses, and snarling traffic. Additional storms and rainfall on July 19 and 21 exacerbated the problems.
"We are continuing with our damage assessment process, obviously with your smaller communities, it's a much quicker process," Hamilton County EMA Director Nick Crossley told the Board of Commissioners Tuesday. "In our larger communities, it's a little bit more complicated as we move through trying to figure out the level of damage."
That assessment includes walking through neighborhoods looking for damage and high water marks. It also involves contacting people, and possibly seeing inside their homes. Each municipality is responsible for gathering that data, sometimes going door-to-door, Crossley says.
Crossley says Fairfax is the only community, so far, to turn in its damage numbers. The rest are still investigating. The culmination of reports is what will be used to determine if a state or federal level disaster will be declared, opening up the possibility of more funding for clean up and prevention.
The city of Cincinnati already has declared an emergency and Hamilton County may follow suit, though Crossley points out neither are necessary for a state or federal declaration. Those both use FEMA damage assessment tiers to rate the severity of an incident and determine if a declaration is appropriate.
Federal Damage Assessment Tiers
• Affected: Minimal cosmetic damage; habitability is maintained.
• Minor: Low-level structural or water harm; home remains safe to live in with quick fixes. Water is under 18 inches inside the first floor.*
• Major: Severe structural failure or high-water lines; the home is unsafe and uninhabitable without heavy repairs. Water is 18-24 inches high inside the living area or above the first electrical outlet.
• Destroyed: Total structural collapse or washed away; completely beyond repair.
*Basements are not considered in the damage assessment process unless proven to be primary living spaces.
The threshold for a disaster declaration is 25 major or destroyed properties. Crossley says if the county determines it meets the threshold, Hamilton County EMA will work with Ohio EMA and FEMA to confirm the data, at which point FEMA or the state would determine what if any declaration should be made.
If a state or federal emergency is declared, communities can begin applying for aid. Should the county not reach threshold, Crossley says there could be other funding avenues to pursue, but they would be outside the emergency management auspices.
Another possibility is the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities Program, or BRIC, though federal funding for emergency management projects and disasters has been cut dramatically under the second Trump administration.
As NPR reported earlier this year, "the Trump administration canceled the [BRIC] program, saying it was 'eliminating waste, fraud and abuse.' The federal government stopped disbursing billions of dollars that local communities had already been promised for projects, and also stopped processing new applications for money.
"Late last year, a federal judge ordered the administration to reinstate the program, although it's unclear when money will start flowing again. In the past, it's taken a year or more for FEMA to review applications and make a decision about whether to fund specific projects, and under the Trump administration the agency has lost thousands of employees, which could potentially lead to even more administrative delays."
Crossley also notes the BRIC funding for flood mitigation projects and the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program will need the community's financial support, too.
"These programs often require a 25 percent match of some kind, which again is still a good deal if we can get one of these. These are multi-million dollar grants, but they do require — all of these mitigation efforts require [a local match] — but they're long-term projects, both from the planning stage, the application stage, and then the implementation stage," says Crossley.
Flooding is the No. 1 hazard in Hamilton County
"The number one hazard in Hamilton County is flooding and flash flooding, hands down, just because of the level of damage," Crossley said. "Oftentimes it's the uninsured nature of the damage, and the financial impact to our residents, so the number one hazard all of our communities are constantly trying to mitigate is flooding."
He says the agency will incorporate its investigation findings and community concerns and reports as it updates the county's Hazard Mitigation Plan. The document is revised annually and gets a complete update every five years. The last full update was in 2023.
"We'll make sure this event is incorporated into that plan. We will then, over the next year or so, be conducting and sending out [surveys]. We like to try to reach out to the residents of Hamilton County and say, 'What concerns you? How prepared are you? And what would you like to see happen?' So we can document that and share that with our communities," Crossley explains.
Be weather-aware
By its very nature, flash flooding is hard to predict. According to EMA and National Weather Service data from July 17, off and on showers/storms began at 3:15 p.m. Heavy rain arrived in the affected areas at 4:55 p.m. A flood advisory was issued at 5:18; a flash flood warning was issued at 5:30, and it was upgraded to "considerable" at 5:44 p.m.
Your smartphone likely has built in alerts you can activate. It's also smart to have at least one weather app on your phone, and a NOAA weather radio. Pay attention to weather forecasts, tune into local media, check reputable agencies on social media and be aware of your surroundings.
Hamilton County also uses Alert HC, which you can customize to receive life-saving information and emergency messages directly from the agency. You can sign up for Alert HC here: Alert HC Registration Form.
The county offers a full listing of emergency notification options.
- If you encounter flood waters, turn around, don't drown. Do not attempt to drive or walk through the flood waters.
- If your home begins to receive water, move to higher ground and move valuable items and important documents off the ground.
- Heed all official guidance and ensure that you have multiple ways to receive alerts and warnings.
- If battery-powered devices have been exposed to water, contact your local fire department. Place affected items in metal or fire-resistant containers at least six feet from buildings or debris piles.
What to Do If Your Home Experiences Flooding?
- If you are displaced because of the flood and may need sheltering, please call: 1-800-RED-CROSS (1-800-733-2767).
- Contact your private insurance to learn about coverage.
- Take photos of the flooded area, structure damage, personal property damage, where water is entering the building.
- Create an inventory list of damaged property.
- Dry out your home by opening doors, windows, cabinets and closet doors. Use fans and de-humidifiers to lower moisture.
- Sort contents and discard waste according to your jurisdiction's trash collection guidelines.
- Clean and disinfect all parts of the home impacted by flood waters — walls, floors, closets, shelves, etc.
- If you are experiencing a sewer backup, report it to the Metropolitan Sewer District. Click here for information on how to report.
- If specialized professional work is needed to clean up your home, protect yourself from fraud by requesting a list of reputable contractors from your insurance carrier or using the Better Business Bureau to find local businesses.
What about the sewers?
The Metropolitan Sewer District reports that as of Monday it had received nearly 1,900 reports of sewer backups. The hardest hit areas recorded unprecedented 1,000-year rainfalls the county's aging system simply can't handle.
"The MSD sewer system in these recent events didn't fail," Director Diana Christy told commissioners. "These aren't operational issues. These aren't failures to maintain it. The system is simply overwhelmed. In other words, it is not designed to convey that much stormwater over that time period. That and the stormwater is mixed with wastewater once it gets into our system, so those overflows happen. But it is a capacity issue; it is not an operational issue when it comes to our sewer system."
She adds, "What's happening when we have these rain events is that that backup is caused by what we would call inadequate capacity of the public sewer per our consent decree. That just means that it's overwhelmed. It doesn't mean that we could design or we could solve the problem with larger sewers necessarily."
The sewer district is in the middle of a multi-billion dollar federally mandated system overhaul to eliminate or mitigate sanitary and combined sewer overflows. Part of that has included removing stormwater from parts of the sanitary sewer system through projects like the $103 million Lick Run Greenway.
Sewer backup assistance
You have 48 hours after discovering a possible sewer backup to report it. Christy says the agency has been a little less strict about that deadline in light of the large volume of calls.
"I do know that for the the few days immediately following the event, people did have some trouble getting through. We encouraged them to get on to our online system, but the most important first step when there is a impact to your home or business is to report that to us as soon as possible through one of these methods," Christy says.
Investigators are in the process of following up on those reports and determining which ones qualify for the Sewer Backup (SBU) program. She says the agency is currently out investigating. In some cases, inspectors may not need to actually enter your home. Often they're able to determine if a sewer was "supercharged" or overflowed by inspecting manholes and sewers in your area. Some claims are "batch approved" using this method, rather than inspecting every individual home.
If your report is determined to be related to a sewer backup for which MSD is at fault, someone will contact you to arrange for professional cleaning. Christy says those calls are currently underway. You can then file a claim for reimbursement. You will need to fill out a reimbursement form and provide documentation of everything you include for reimbursement. You have two years to complete that process.
The consent decree provides for an ombudsman through the Legal Aid Society should you need it.
The current MSD budget allocates around $8.2 million for the SBU program. Christy says the agency expects to exceed that number because of the July rain events.
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