COLUMBUS – Dive teams and water rescue team were deployed to aid stranded employees of a Franklin County jail early Friday after severe thunderstorms roared through Ohio overnight, dumping torrential rain on central Ohio, prompting evacuations in Licking County.
The storms that struck late Thursday and early Friday contained heavy rains and strong, gusty winds.
The Franklin County Sheriff’s Office and Columbus Division of Fire Dive Teams deployed watercraft at approximately 7:30 a.m. to rescue at least two employees in stranded vehicles in the parking lot of the Franklin County Corrections Center II on Jackson Pike who were unable to return to safety without assistance, Sheriff Dallas Baldwin said.
–Video courtesy Franklin County Sheriff’s Office
The sheriff’s office dive team also served as a ‘water taxi’ to shuttle several third shift deputies and employees from the correctional facility to dry land, and shuttle first shift employees from a staging area to the jail to report to duty.
The mail’s intake facility is closed, and inmates are being diverted to intake at the Franklin County Jail on Front Street, Baldwin said.
Flooding led to the complete closure of I-71 on the South Side. The interstate was shut down between I-70 and I-27 due to flooding in the area of the interchange with State Route 104 and Frank Road. State Route 104 was closed in both directions from Grove City to Frank Road due to flooding and motorists who drove into the water had to be rescued.
Several roads and highways had to be closed until waters receded, including I-71 between I-70 and I-270 south of downtown.
Rushing floodwaters completely washed away a section of roadway on State Route 79 in Heath, closing the road between Rheinhart Road and the city of Heath where floodwaters also overflowed the city’s water treatment plant.
This is the current situation in SR 79 in Licking County. ODOT is assisting the City of Heath with this road closure. Road is closed north of James Parkway. pic.twitter.com/e6a9wy4Ejz
— ODOT EastCentralOhio (@ODOT_EastCenOH) March 20, 2020
A Heath police officer was rescued after a boat sank, and a 2-year-old girl in Newark was taken to a hospital with undisclosed injuries after getting caught up in high waters.
Roughly 10,000 were without power early Friday, with the highest numbers reported in Delaware and Franklin counties.
Flood warnings and advisories remained in effect early Friday for many areas, but conditions were expected to improve as the day progressed.