'The economic impact for businesses will be measured in millions'

MILLERSBURG - The physical damage of downed trees and power lines throughout Holmes County caused by Monday night's storm is obvious, but the economic impact on area businesses is not as easy to see.

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A survey of businesses and the economic impact from the storm will reach into the millions, according to Holmes County Economic Development Director Mark Leininger.

Leininger said one business reported it is losing close to $400,000 a day because it is closed with no power. Other businesses reported big losses as well. And the Holmes County Commissioners have declared the county a disaster area, and have reached out to the governor's office, which is expected to open the door for some financial relief.

"We partnered with the Chamber of Commerce and Tiffany Gerber sent the survey out to all the Chamber members including retail and hospitality businesses and 95% of the respondents said they were impacted by the storm," Leininger said.

He said as of Thursday morning, 35 businesses had responded and more responses were coming. He expected up to 50 responses.

Business interruptions

Even companies that didn't suffer property damage suffered business interruptions. That included loss of sales, loss of production and loss of inventory. Some companies had workers who couldn't get into work.

"It's difficult to quantify the damage at this point, as people are still not able to operate, but we asked for an estimate of damage, and five respondents estimated their damage will be in excess of $100,000, and one indicated they are losing as much as $400,000 a day," Leininger said. "The damage won't be measured in tens of thousands, or hundreds of thousands, but the economic impact for businesses will be measured in millions. We'll continue to work with businesses and we'll update and report as responses come in."

Dwayne Yoder, owner of Bags Sports Pub on East Jackson Street in MIllesburg, said this has been frustrating because not only does he lose business because of being closed due to no power, but he also has lost inventory, and he has no work for his staff.

"I hope I don't lose staff over this. I know they can't afford to be off. But what are we supposed to do?" he asked. "I rented a trailer from my friend Kevin Mast at Mast Trucking to save some things. And I had some staff in to help me move stuff into the trailer. All we can do is hope for the power to come back on."

At Millersburg Brewing Co., brewer Marty Lindon said he won't know the extent of loss on beers in fermenters until the business is processing again.

"We have to run sensory and biological analyses," he said.

Millersburg Brewing Co. General Manager Mara Baker Padden said the loss of sales from three days during the busy season really hurts.

"During these tough times, it truly shows the generosity of others and we couldn't be more appreciative of their help," Padden said. "Total loss won't be assessed until we are back up and running."

Local emergency proclamation

A state of emergency declaration was issued for the protection of lives and property of the people of Holmes County. All public offices are directed to exercise diligence in discharging duties through the duration of the emergency.

All residents are called upon to comply with necessary emergency measurements and to cooperate with public officials and disaster forces in executing the emergency operation plan.

Commissioner Dave Hall said officials have spent the past couple days assessing the damage throughout the county and have sent their report to the governor.

"In the first hours, we had to understand what we were up against," Hall said. "We had issues, and we knew we had major infrastructure damage to the grid. We feel comfortable that we hit the criteria that would allow us to ask the governor to seek funds, which would allow us to request federal assistance."

He noted the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), USDA and Small Business Administration, among other agencies, that could provide relief.

More: Many in Wayne & Holmes flood hotels, pools to escape heat as they await return of power,

Holmes Wayne Electric report

Holmes Wayne Electric President and CEO Glenn Miller thanked everyone for the community support. He said many have compared this event to the ice storm of 2004.

"We had about $1.3 million in restoration due to the ice storm. That was 18 years ago," Miller said. "We had another $3.7 million in permanent damage that was fixed after.

"Right now we have 85 tree trimmers out there and 115 linemen," he continued. "It's been challenging, but the community has pulled together. It's all hands on deck. We have five crews from Kentucky, four from Pennsylvania and the rest are contract crews from Toledo, Carrol Electric and Lorain-Medina. We've got 25 additional crews, plus our guys."

Holmes County engineer sees a big job of clearing roads

Engineer Chris Young said they were able to get roads open initially, but it will probably take the rest of the summer to get them cleared back to the right of ways.

"I can't put a number on it yet, as far as losses, but it's a pretty big number," Young said. "On the sanitary sewer side, they have run 24 hours a day since Monday, tending generators. We didn't lose any plants. We had some generator issues in Berlin but we got that fixed up. All plants are running, and putting out good, quality effluence. No pollution at all in our streams.

"After this is all over, we'll assess and see what we did right," he continued. "Hopefully there won't be a next time."

This article originally appeared on The Daily Record: Holmes County's economy taking a hit from storm's aftermath