State of emergency issued for Summit County, surrounding area after tornadoes, flooding

A state of emergency has been declared for Summit County and several surrounding areas after last week's storms brought tornadoes and flooding.

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine declared an emergency in Ashtabula, Cuyahoga, Geauga, Lake, Lorain, Portage, Summit and Trumbull counties on Saturday.

"This declaration of a state of emergency will give the state the ability to give these communities expedited assistance," DeWine said in a release. "At the moment, we have no outstanding requests for services the State can provide to our local communities to help in the aftermath of these storms.

"However, we are in this for the duration and will continue to help local communities in Northeast Ohio as they recover from the damage left by the storm, should we receive any new request for services the State is able to provide."

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The storm caused extensive flooding in the area, and many continue to be without power — particularly in Cuyahoga County.

As of Sunday morning, almost 44,000 FirstEnergy customers in Ohio remained without power . That is out of nearly 2.1 million customers in the state.

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DeWine also asked for the Federal Emergency Management Agency to come to Ohio to conduct a damage assessment in the area.

"I encourage local governments who need assistance to contact their County Emergency Management Agency Offices," DeWine said.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: State of emergency issued for Summit County, surrounding area after tornadoes, flooding