(The Center Square) – Four southern Ohio counties are now under a state of emergency following flooding and storm damage related to Hurricane Helene.
High winds and heavy rains caused flooding, power outages and downed trees in Lawrence, Jackson, Pike and Scioto counties, all in south central Ohio on or near the Ohio River.
“This declaration of a state of emergency will give the state the ability to expedite assistance to these communities,” Gov. Mike DeWine said. “We will continue to monitor needs and help communities in southern Ohio recover from the damage and remove large amounts of debris from the recent storm event.”
The Ohio Emergency Management Agency continues to work with impacted counties to assess needs and give help.
While the storm’s impact was felt significantly in southern Ohio and less notably around the state, the damage was not nearly as devastating as in North Carolina, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and Tennessee.
As previously reported by The Center Square, President Joe Biden visited storm devastated regions of North and South Carolina on Wednesday.
The storm is currently responsible for 178 deaths across six states, with 90 of those in North Carolina.
Early projections of damage costs range from $95 billion to $160 billion, pending on the source and metric inclusions.
Water, food, power utilities and infrastructure have all been compromised.
Earlier this week, DeWine announced several teams from Ohio were headed to the impacted region to help in a variety of ways.
Ohio National Guard troops, a helicopter and the Ohio Department of Administrative Services Multi-Agency Radio Communication system staff and public safety equipment all headed Asheville, North Carolina.
Also, doctors from Ohio State University Medical Center and Ohio Task Force 1 arrived in western North Carolina late Monday after being reassigned from a staging area in Orlando before the storm.