Hurricane Ike blasted through the Gulf of Mexico causing destruction through Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas before looping to the northeast and striking the state on Sunday, Sept. 14.
Credit: Witmer, Jim
Credit: Witmer, Jim
It would be more than a week before power was restored for many in the region.
Across Ohio, 84 counties reported windstorm damage and power outages, and state of emergency declarations were issued in 29 counties. The worst damage was around Dayton, Cincinnati and Central Ohio. Six Ohioans died as a result.
The Dayton Daily News reported that across the Miami Valley there weren't enough four-way stop signs to handle outages, bags of ice disappeared from store freezers and chain saws and generators sold out.
Credit: Lisa Powell
Credit: Lisa Powell
Towering trees were uprooted or snapped in half, blocking streets and crushing cars. Neighbors pulled together in Troy to uncover a pickup parked on Short Street buried under branches, and heavy machinery was called out in Tipp City to clear Broadway Avenue.
"It's like nothing we've ever seen before," Sherie Miller, co-owner of Sherdec Tree Service in Cincinnati, said. "I have people in tears calling me."
Volunteers at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base cleared debris from roadways to clear a path for the annual Air Force Marathon.
Credit: Teesha McClam
Credit: Teesha McClam
In Franklin, Curt Cooper used a flashlight to pull thawing food from his freezer. Without power, residents on Grand and Oxford Avenues in Dayton cooked meat over charcoal grills to feed to their families before it spoiled.
Robert Runyon and his wife Donna bought a grill on the third day without electricity. "I'm really tired of McDonald's now," Donna said as she turned pork chops over a fire.
A Speedway station on Shroyer Road in Kettering covered its pump nozzles with yellow plastic when they ran out of gas days after the storm hit.
Credit: Lisa Powell
Credit: Lisa Powell
Patience began to wear thin after a week without power and residents protested the Dayton Power and Light Co.
In Beavercreek, 80-year-old Margaret Chambers whistled at traffic as she and residents of the Fairwood Village, an independent living facility, stood with the aid of walkers along North Fairfield Road with signs.
Credit: Lisa Powell
Credit: Lisa Powell
Cassandra Benning-Lewis, a resident of Westbrooke Village Apartments in Trotwood who had been living by flashlight and candles, and heating water over cans of Sterno, took part in a rally with other residents calling for help restoring power.
Utility crews from across the country worked around the clock to repair downed lines and slowly power was restored to communities. As trucks from New Hampshire rolled through Miamisburg, employees of Long Cleaners stood in front of the store and waved in welcome.
Credit: Lisa Powell
Credit: Lisa Powell
In a report released the following year, the Ohio Insurance Institute said winds at speeds equal to a Category 1 hurricane — up to 74 mph — tracked diagonally across the state from southwest to northeast over a four-hour period.
Losses compiled by insurance companies and state government exceeded Ohio’s largest natural disaster in recent history — the Xenia tornado of 1974.
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