MENTOR, Ohio; July 24, 2013…The City of Mentor continues to encourage residents to take all necessary measures to protect their health by properly cleaning, disinfecting, and drying water-contaminated areas. Information on the proper method for clean up is available at the Lake County General Health District’s website at http://www.lcghd.org/After_the_Flood and on this site. If you are elderly, disabled, or otherwise have special needs that require assistance with clean up, please call “211” from a land line to be matched up with volunteer help (or 440-639-4420). All major Mentor retail stores are well stocked with bleach and other necessary cleaning supplies. If you lack transportation to acquire such supplies, please call the City of Mentor at 440-255-1100 for assistance.
Mentor continues to encourage residents to report storm-related flooding, sewer back-up, or property damage by contacting the city at 440-255-1100 or e-mailing your information to stormdamage@cityofmentor.com. Please indicate the nature and severity of your damaged property. If you wish to be contacted by city personnel, please indicate so and you will be contacted as soon as resources permit. The Lake County Board of Commissioners has declared a countywide local Declaration of Emergency, but at this time Lake County has not been declared a Disaster Area by Governor Kasich or FEMA. Lake County Emergency Management Agency Director Larry Greene stated, “Declaring a Local Declaration of Emergency is only the first step in a number of steps involved in hopefully getting a federal disaster declaration. The process for Individual Assistance (IA) to homeowners and businesses has just started and could take weeks to accomplish. Damage assessment for an event of this type must follow a strict criteria established by FEMA when assessing homes and businesses.” A major component in getting the Federal Disaster Declaration is that Lake County must have a minimum of 25 primary homes and/or businesses with 40% ‘UNINSURED DAMAGE’. Director Greene also said, “We are aware that we have thousands of homes in Lake County with water in the basements and flood damaged possessions, however, FEMA‘s criteria centers on structural damage such as collapsed basement walls that make the dwellings uninhabitable and un-repairable for more than 30 days.” If you feel your home or business has sustained this amount of damage, you are encouraged to contact the 211; if you are unable to get through to this number, then call the Lake County Emergency Management Agency at 440-350-5499.
The city of Mentor and Waste Management will continue to remove storm damaged refuse from the curbside for the foreseeable future as the need exists. If your waste has not been picked up in more than two days, please contact the Public Work Department directly at 440-974-5781.
Mentor City Manager Ken Filipiak commented, “The strength and intensity of this storm exceeded even what we saw in 2006, although for a lesser duration. This extreme amount of water over such a short period overwhelmed all systems in Lake County. It is sad to see the thousands of homes flooded and lives disrupted throughout our communities. Our focus continues to be helping our residents recover as quickly as possible and meeting those in the community with special needs. If you are aware of a neighbor who is elderly, disabled, or otherwise unable to help themselves, please forward this information to the City or call 211.”