August 26, 1998
High waters plague Seneca County
By Cathy Willoughby
Staff Writer
Extremely wet weather plagued the area Monday and Tuesday, causing flooded basements, impassable roads and one storm-related death in Seneca County.
Sam Buccione, 68, of 192 Tomb Street, succumbed to a cardiac condition apparently while trying to clear his basement of water Tuesday afternoon. Tiffin EMS and firefighters responded and attempted to resuscitate him.
Public works employees and safety personnel county-wide attempted to keep up with the hundreds of calls generated from the storms that continued to roll through the area.
Residents of Clinton Mobile Home Court, 60 N. SR 101, found themselves under water yesterday afternoon, as the neighboring Willow Creek overflowed into their homes. Electricity was turned off to 16 trailers.
A dozen residents were housed in the Public Safety Building overnight until water recedes and electricity can be restored. The Red Cross took care of arrangements, setting up cots and securing donations of coffee and doughnuts from several area groceries.
Loretta Platt, who has lived at the trailer park for nine years, said she watched the water rise from the beginning of the flooding.
''It had just started raining and then I left at 3:00 to go to church. When I got back, I had to go through quite high water to get back,'' she said.
Amy Poland's front steps were floating, as well as her children's Moon Walk toy that was piled high with their bikes.
''It's about one inch above the floor,'' she said. ''I guess it could be worse; we are moving in about a month. My three children are with their grandma now. They just want to swim in it!''
Fostoria firefighters went on a total of 88 water-related calls Tuesday afternoon, most to shut off electric and gas.
''And we are still receiving calls,'' said Lt. Robert Young. ''I've never seen anything like this. I started at 9 a.m. and it was 5:30 before I was back in without lunch or a break. But you had to go out and help these people.''
High winds and falling tree limbs knocked out service for 642 American Electric Power customers Monday night and early Tuesday.
Beth Craft, regional corporate communications manager for AEP, said the first outages started about 6:30 p.m. Monday. Service was restored by midnight.
A storm around 4:30 a.m. Tuesday knocked out power to more customers. Power was back on by 10 a.m.
Craft said Fremont was the hardest-hit area served by AEP. There were 1,390 customers without power in the Fremont area, starting just before 3 a.m. Tuesday. Service was restored to most by 4:30 a.m., and the remainder by 10 a.m.