Findlay Risks Future Looking For Perfect Flood Control Plan

screencap of a Water Rescue in Findlay Ohio December 2013
Water Rescue in Findlay Ohio December 2013

I grew up in Findlay Ohio and I have family still living there. Back in August of 2007, Findlay made national news when a massive flood hit the area. The river crested at the same level as the terrible flood of 1913 and caused as much damage. Since then there has been three other major floods including the one that occurred this past Sunday. After each flood the same thing has happened. There has been clean up and talk of doing something about the flooding. Six years on it is still all talk. Dragging out the needed plan will only hurt Findlay in the long term. Maybe they shouldn’t be looking for the perfect plan.

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Flooding brings back memories

I woke on Tuesday morning (8/22/07) to news of nasty flooding in Wyandot county and Richland county. We had some nasty storms come through the day before and I noticed overnight the areas north of Columbus getting hit with a lot a rain again. So when the news was getting bad I knew my home town of Findlay would have trouble.

The Blanchard River runs from around Kenton north before turning a sharp left, then west, through Findlay and Ottawa then it empties into the Auglaize River which in turns empties into the Maumee then Lake Erie.

Then I heard the news that Carey and Arlington were evacuating people. The count down was on.

Soon flash flooding was happening in Findlay hitting areas that rarely get wet. Then the big water hit causing the river to rise to 18.5 feet matching the record 1913 flood.

Needless to say this flood was huge. Not everyday the Coast Guard is patrolling Main Street in an air-boat.

The recent flooding reminded me of other times when the Blanchard flooded. The last major flood was in 1981. Rawson Park was a large lake, most county roads were closed, and a car dealer moved his inventory to overpass on Central Parkway to escape the water.

Other times there has been minor flooding. Lye Creek that runs through the fairgrounds seems to flood every fair cutting off the northside of the fairgrounds from the southside. River St and Howard Street flood just past I-75. Miller’s Luncheonette has been flooded so many times that this time the owner didn’t even rush downtown – he knew it would be bad and there was nothing to do until the water went down.

City of Findlay aiming for long-term fixes

New Orleans residents who had insurance policies that excluded water damage lose in court

Saw this on the net today:

ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW ORLEANS — Hurricane Katrina victims whose homes and businesses were destroyed when floodwaters breached levees in the 2005 storm cannot recover money from their insurance companies for the damages, a federal appeals court ruled today.

“This event was excluded from coverage under the plaintiffs’ insurance policies, and under Louisiana law, we are bound to enforce the unambiguous terms of their insurance contracts as written,” Judge Carolyn King wrote for a three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

As a result, the panel found those who filed the suit “are not entitled to recover under their policies,” she said.

More than a dozen insurance companies, including Allstate and Travelers, were defendants.

The decision overturns a ruling by U.S. District Judge Stanwood Duval Jr., who in November sided with policyholders arguing that language excluding water damage from some of their insurance policies was ambiguous.

Duval said the policies did not distinguish between floods caused by an act of God — such as excessive rainfall — and floods caused by an act of man, which would include the levee breaches following Katrina’s landfall.

But the appeals panel concluded that “even if the plaintiffs can prove that the levees were negligently designed, constructed, or maintained and that the breaches were due to this negligence, the flood exclusions in the plaintiffs’ policies unambiguously preclude their recovery.”

Court rules against Katrina victims in flood insurance case

Who in their right mind would NOT buy insurance that covers flood damage if you live in a flood prone area like the bowl we call New Orleans?

No one would.

Then again, if you live in a flood prone area – you can’t get regular insurance coverage for water damage. You must buy flood insurance from the federal government.

My guess is average people don’t know that and I also guess that some of that info may have been withheld so the broker could make a sale on the policy. It wouldn’t be the first time.