Storms pound Huron County

NORWALK — Storms pounded Huron County Wednesday night and into Thursday morning. A tornado warning was issued for the Bellevue area late Wednesday night, but was called off around 11:45 p.m. By Thursday morning, a handful of county roads were closed and the Western Reserve School District had to cancel classes on what would have been their first day of school. EHOVE Career Center also closed. Thursday's Day 2 of Bash on the Bay 6 featuering Luke Bryan was postponed. "Today was supposed to be the first day," said Western Reserve School District Superintendent Will Snyder. "It was unfortunate that we weren't able to start today, but we look forward to starting tomorrow." The day off for Western Reserve students will count as a calamity day; the district gets five calamity days a year, Snyder said. After five calamity days are used, students need to use make up days for canceled classes. Among the road closures in Norwalk and Huron County were: Elm Street in Norwalk Water Street in Norwalk Greenwich Milan Townline Road between Court and Zenobia Wakeman Townline Road north of U.S. 20 Lehigh at Townsend Angling Road in Townsend Township Townline 131 between 61 and Peru Center Road Section Line 30 south of U.S. 20 Section Line 30 between 162 and Egypt The sun had come out by lunchtime on Wednesday, but more thunderstorms were in the forecast for Thursday evening. In Norwalk, there was a 60 percent chance of thunderstorms Thursday night. Local officials say the storms were so bad, they are running out of "road closed" signs. "The townships are running out of high water signs. This means you will have to watch for high water in areas that may not be marked. Allow extra time when traveling this morning. If you see an area with high water please find an alternate route, and do not attempt to drive through it. Be safe and drive carefully," the sheriff's department warned on Facebook. Weather wasn't just bad in Huron County. According the Associated Press, in Lakewood, 10 people were rescued from seven cars on a section of Interstate 90 on Wednesday night after their vehicles got stuck in the water that reached to the windows, Capt. Gary Stone said. The highway was shut down in both directions at one point. No one was hurt. "It was a bad mess down there," Stone said, noting that while Lakewood is often hit by bad storms coming off of Lake Erie, this kind of flooding was unheard of. Up to 8 inches of rain hit some areas of north-central Ohio, according to Brian Mitchell with the National Weather Service in Cleveland. The northeast part of the state saw at least 5 inches from midday Wednesday into Thursday morning, with winds reaching up to 60 mph in some areas, the AP reported. Lorain County, which received about 6 inches of rain, canceled its county fair Thursday due to "storms, flooding, closed roads and damage."