070626...R MAH STORMS 6...Canfield Twp...07-06-26...Marty Soloman, owner of Lawn & Beyond of Boardman, clears a downed tree from the front yard of home along Tippecanoe Rd. that fell over from the strong thunderstorms Sunday afternoon...by R. Michael Semple

Gov. Mike DeWine declared a state of emergency Monday for Mahoning County, which sustained extensive damage during Sunday’s storms.

What that means will be determined at a later date.

DeWine said he was declaring the state of emergency after touring locations in Boardman damaged during the storms.

Most of the damage from the storms occurred in Boardman, Austintown, Canfield and Poland, with numerous trees and utility poles down, basements flooded and damage done to houses.

Asked what the declaration means, DeWine said: “It depends. We don’t know the full extent of the damage. You just never know. My experience is it’s always worse — and as worse this time — than it’s been described at a briefing on a phone.”

DeWine added: “What an emergency declaration does is it gets things in place that might help on a federal level. The numbers are going to be the controlling part. When the local emergency management folks send them in, that’s the most important thing, but having a governor make a declaration does send a signal that this is serious.”

DeWine’s declaration came hours after county commissioners declared a state of emergency early Monday for the county in the wake of a storm that caused severe flooding, tore town trees and power lines, and left thousands without electricity. Some neighborhoods may not have power restored for several days.

The National Weather Service was in town Monday morning to determine if a tornado is actually to blame for some of the devastation across Boardman. The NWS confirmed a macroburst and an EF1 tornado that touched down in Canfield Township, with a maximum peak of 95 mph and a track 0.58 miles and was 300 yards wide.

DeWine said the Ohio Department of Transportation, which was deployed immediately after the storms, will remain in the area to assist in any way it can. It’s possible other state agencies and departments could provide help.

DeWine said: “People who got hit got hit hard and the power of a storm, you can never get the full appreciation of it unless you see what the damage is and that’s what I had the opportunity to do.”

The emergency declaration will help “cut through some of the red tape, just make it easier to get help.”

DeWine marveled at the destructive force of Mother Nature.

“What gets you and still impresses me is the power of nature,” DeWine said. “You can’t do anything about it. You can get better warning. Everyone can do a good job. The science is better about predicting it sometimes. But it’s still very powerful. The power of weather is what always gets me. Every time, I look at it and say, ‘Wow.'”

Commissioner Geno DiFabio said he was thankful that DeWine showed up so quickly and declared an emergency.

“You see what we’re up against,” DiFabio said. “The destruction is horrific. We’re grateful for the declaration.”

U.S. Rep. Michael Rulli, R-Salem, who represents Mahoning County in the House, attended the special commissioners meeting Monday and toured Boardman with DeWine. He said the county’s emergency declaration is the first step in the process of getting federal aid from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Rulli said he and U.S. Rep. Dave Joyce, R-Bainbridge, whose district will include a portion of Mahoning starting next year, are prepared to put pressure on the White House to approve disaster relief.

Rulli said his staff drove around Monday taking pictures of damage and encouraged county residents to send photos of property damage to his office because the images will be helpful in obtaining FEMA support.

Meanwhile, crews from Mahoning County Engineer Patrick Ginnetti’s office continue efforts to clear roads while county EMA staff are working to keep problematic areas safe and assess damage to coordinate cleanup and repair efforts with utility companies and state and federal offices.

Ginnetti said his staff worked until approximately 11 p.m. Sunday clearing roads, including a particularly large tree that left Shields Road impassable for several hours.

He said remaining road closures are primarily because trees remain entangled with energized power lines.

“Our crews cannot safely get them out of the road until FirstEnergy has an opportunity to either de-energize the wires or get the wires out of the way,” he said.

Roads may remain partially obstructed for several days while crews prioritize reopening traffic lanes before debris removal. Ginnetti said that while road debris may be moved onto the sides of the street, the county will come back to clear that debris later.

EMA officials have been all over Mahoning County, trying to get a clear picture of the damages.

“We are actively mitigating as much as we can,” said Mahoning County EMA Director Conner O’Halloran. “We’re gonna start our damage assessment. We already did some drone flyovers this morning and we’re gonna do a formal damage assessment starting tomorrow.”

O’Halloran said he has not received any reports of significant injuries from the storm. He cautioned county residents to assume that any downed power lines are still charged.

He also strenuously urged residents not to cross or move barricades that county agencies or local law enforcement have set up.

O’Halloran said: “I do ask the residents to please pay attention to the road closed signs. We’ve seen a number of people driving around the barricades. We actually ran out of barricades. We’re not equipped for an emergency of this magnitude with the number of roads that were closed, so we did the best we could. There was one head-on collision on Tippecanoe Road because someone got impatient trying to get home and drove around a barricade and hit someone head-on.”

Mahoning County Prosecutor Lynn Maro said drivers can be charged for running barricades, and encouraged O’Halloran to work with local police to cite problematic drivers.

“We don’t need people exacerbating a really dangerous situation by ignoring basic provisions,” she said. “Encourage them to cite them and we can bring them to court and fine them.”

State Sen. Al Cutrona, R-Canfield, said he and state Rep. Tex Fischer, R-Canfield, contacted DeWine’s office immediately when the scope of the storm became apparent. He said their offices have been in touch with commissioners and other local leaders since Sunday, and are prepared to help however they can.

“If you guys need some help from ODOT, you guys need us to bring in the National Guard, you guys need us to bring in more manpower, anything like that, phone call away, we can deploy those efforts to help clean up the area,” Cutrona said. “So this is a team effort, this is us working together. This isn’t party lines, this is about taking care of the people of the Mahoning Valley.”

Fischer said residents should consider both legislators’ offices a resource.

“I think we were in touch with the governor’s office while it was still raining, before the rain stopped yesterday to kind of walk us through the steps of what we need to do locally to get the state support and how the state support is necessary to get federal support,” he said. “Our offices are available, we got folks down in Columbus whose only job today is to answer the phone and help residents impacted by the storm.”

Boardman fire Chief Mark Pitzer said there are a number of locations in the township in which trees fell on and became entangled with power lines.

“Ultimately, our road crews cannot go into those areas and cut up those trees until Ohio Edison comes and removes the hazard,” he said. “We don’t want anyone getting electrocuted. Safety first. So we’re working with Ohio Edison and they’re working as fast as they can. They have over 100 crews out here in Boardman and subcontractors that are working in the area as well as to restore power. Once they’re able to get into those areas, the roadways that are blocked, and remove those power lines and restore power, we can remove debris and open up our main corridors. Right now, it’s a challenge navigating some of the main roads that we use for emergency response because they’re blocked.”

Pitzer said: “The fortunate thing is we’ve had no injuries here in Boardman Township. We’ve had trees on homes. We’ve had gas leaks. Thankfully, we have had no injuries to our residents, which is our No. 1 priority.”