By: Sarah Donaldson | Statehouse News Bureau
Posted on: Wednesday, August 12, 2026

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COLUMBUS, Ohio (Statehouse News Bureau) — Government agencies are warning Ohioans to be cautious of “very dangerous” summer storms battering much of the state.

Aside from high winds and tornado warnings, the ongoing severe weather could leave days of floodwater behind, Gov. Mike DeWine said Tuesday afternoon, standing inside the Ohio Emergency Management Agency in Columbus.

Storm damage in Columbus on Aug. 11, 2026. [Daniel Konik | Statehouse News Bureau]

The first storm bands Tuesday morning left one dead in Roseville, a village of 1,500 residents south of Zanesville. Since then, DeWine has activated the Ohio National Guard’s high water rescue unit and declared emergencies in Muskingum County and Perry County. Crooksville and Roseville were being evacuated.

But the entire southern half of the state is still under an elevated level of risk, he said, with more storms moving across Ohio into late Tuesday.

“This is the time to use common sense,” he told reporters. “We all make mistakes. This is not the time to do that.”

Dayton broke a 111-year-old daily rainfall record, according to the Wilmington office of the National Weather Service, and wind gusts exceeded 80 miles an hour in Columbus.

This kind of severe weather more often hits Ohio earlier in the year, said Sima Merick, the executive director of the Ohio Emergency Management Agency.

“We wonder that ourselves, why so late in the year?” Merick told reporters. “We see years like this, it’s warmer this year, we’ve just got a lot of activity going on, there’s really no rhyme or reason.”

In some areas, floodwater could hang around until Thursday, at least.