LOGAN, COUNTY (WLIO) - "I had a chance to talk to some people who have lost their house, lost part of their house, or who have been in someway impacted, and to see their spirit and their resilience and their toughness, how strong they are, it’s just absolutely amazing to me," said Ohio Governor Mike DeWine.
The governor and lieutenant governor, along with several state lawmakers from the Indian Lake region, held a news conference at Indian Lake High School on Friday, where the gym was piled high with donations for those affected by the storm. The governor gave credit to the community for pulling together.
"I want to thank the first responders who have done a phenomenal job," DeWine said. "I want to think all of the volunteers that put this together here. I asked law enforcement, 'how in the world did you check all of these places?', and they got it done, but we also had neighbors who were watching out for neighbors."
During the news conference we learned the search and rescue efforts had been wrapped up, with multiple law enforcement agencies and other first responders, teaming up to search dozens of structures.
"The grid search has been done - we believe that everyone’s accounted for and the search and rescue mission is done," said Logan County Sheriff Randy Dodds. "At this point in time, to the best of my knowledge, everyone is accounted for, and we still only have three fatalities. When you see the damage, you’ll be surprised it’s only three."
Much of the area is still out of power, and crews are dealing with damage to the infrastructure. State emergency management officials say they are already making the needed moves to be sure that help is delivered as quickly as possible.
"We will continue to work with the local county emergency management to conduct damage assessment," said Sima Merick, executive director of the Ohio EMA. "Those damage assessments are the integral part to assessing loss insurance and moving that forward for financial assistance, recovery, long-term recovery, however that would most affect this community."
With the extent of the damage, that recovery may take months, and in some cases, years.
