TOLEDO, Ohio — Lucas County Commissioners declared a state of emergency on Saturday following a major storm Thursday evening that heavily impacted neighborhoods in Point Place.
And although the Toledo Fire Department has reported there were no major injuries or deaths from the storm, many families still face a long road ahead as they work to clean up from the aftermath.
Point Place resident and Democratic Lucas County Commissioner Lisa Sobecki, along with the other county commissioners, passed a resolution declaring a state of emergency for the county but said the amount of monetary damage is below the threshold for state assistance at $1.9 million.
"We're under that but it's not to say in a couple days from now that we'll be over that," Sobecki said.
Residents, first responders and other departments have worked endlessly since the storm hit.
Residents like Karly Smith and Bob Kruzel say the storm hit unexpectedly.
"We were just like in the kitchen just looking out the window, we just saw this big gust, we just saw this like big gust trees come down, hail just coming," Smith said.
Kruzel agreed the speed at which the storm hit was shocking.
"I've seen a couple drizzles come down, I went back inside the house, 10 minutes later everything was gone," said Kruzel.
On Saturday, Point Place United Church of Christ along with other area churches jumped in to help those who were affected by the storm by holding a cookout.
"Simple dinner, just grilling some burgers and hotdogs and everyone has pitched in, all the churches of Point Place has pitched in," said Pastor Jon Komperda, who helped organize the cookout.
Donna Ebanks, Pastor of North Point Church of Nazarene, said Point Place is a close-knit community regardless of the storm, so this only made them stronger.
"We do many things together throughout the year, so this is not unusual. It didn't take a catastrophe for this to happen," Ebanks said.
Tyler Adams, resident and business owner of 2J Digital Marketing & Media, said he and his children were lucky enough to make it through the storm all together. They even got their power back on on Saturday.
"It's very cool to see someone, I mean free meals for people," said Adams. "There's people I know that have lost all of their groceries and everything cause it was in their fridge."
People like the Ruggiero family who are still without power, said things seem a little brighter when the community sticks together.
"Everyone's helped one another out, and we're glad to be here today, so my kids can have dinner tonight."
Toledo Edison says customers without power can pick up a free bag of ice and two gallons of water at Meijer at 1500 E. Alexis Rd. beginning Sunday morning. It's off East Alexis Road and will be from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.