COLUMBUS – High water — on roadways and in basements — remained a problem for folks across central Ohio after Tuesday‘s heavy rains, but the Columbus area was spared the kind of damage that was experienced in nearly a dozen states.
Parts of Ohio, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, West Virginia, Virginia and Georgia were under tornado watches Tuesday night, while Wisconsin was experiencing an April snowstorm.
While there were scattered reports of trees down in neighboring communities, Columbus was mostly spared damage from winds.
The National Weather Service confirmed an EF0 tornado touched down in southeast Licking County.
Firefighters rescued two people who were trapped under the Broad Street bridge downtown Tuesday morning when they were trapped by rising waters.
The two were sleeping when the river started to rise and a Columbus Division of Fire boat went to rescue them. No injuries were reported.
For anyone experiencing basement flooding, there is a hotline to call on the City of Columbus website.
The Ohio Department of Transportation reported 130 road closures statewide Wednesday morning, including several in central Ohio.
Greenlawn Avenue was closed south of downtown where the Scioto floodwall was deployed and ramps from I-71 to Greenlawn Avenue were closed.
U.S. Route 23 was closed in both directions at I-270 on the South Sied as were the ramps from the Outerbelt to S. High Street.
Duvall Road was closed in both directions between U.S. Route 23 and state Rout 104 in Pickaway County and SR 752 was shut down east of South Bloomfield.
High water was reported in the eastbound lanes of I-70 E/B at SR 79 in Licking County.
High winds overturned several mobile homes at an RV park in Lawrence County and part of I-75 was blocked northeast of Cincinnati Tuesday afternoon when about a half-dozen power poles toppled in high winds near Wetherington, WLWT-TV reported.