The Dublin Chamber of Commerce is directing local business owners to a free disaster-preparedness webinar hosted by the U.S. Small Business Administration, after three weeks of severe storms brought nearly 10 inches of rain to central Ohio and left businesses across Franklin County cleaning up flood damage.
The virtual session, "Disaster Preparedness for Ohio Small Businesses," runs Sept. 3 from 10:30 a.m. to noon. Registration is available through the Dublin Chamber of Commerce website, which links to the SBA's event flyer with sign-up details.
A panel of federal, state and local experts will walk attendees through three questions: what small businesses can do to strengthen emergency plans, how government responds when disaster strikes and what recovery resources are available afterward.
August's record storms
The timing lands during National Preparedness Month, and central Ohio is still digging out from a historically destructive August.
Storms that hit Aug. 10 and Aug. 11 produced microbursts with winds estimated at 90 to 100 mph, spawned a tornado in South Columbus and dumped 5 to 8 inches of rain across central and southeastern Ohio in a single event, according to NBC4. Columbus recorded 9.94 inches of rain in the first three weeks of August, nearly three times the monthly average of 3.74 inches and the second-highest total for that period on record.
Gov. Mike DeWine, speaking at the Ohio Emergency Operations Center on Aug. 11 during NBC4's live coverage of the storm response, said the damage would be prolonged: "Odds are we are going to have continuous problems with flooding for the next several days at least."
A second major system on Aug. 19–20 dropped another 2 to 6 inches, flooding eastern Franklin and western Licking counties and closing Interstate 70 in both directions on Aug. 21. At least one person died in the storms, and disaster relief organization Team Rubicon deployed roughly 30 volunteers to Franklin County for debris removal through Aug. 31.
The Franklin County Sheriff's Office issued a scam alert on Aug. 22, warning businesses and residents to watch for fraudsters exploiting the storm damage.
How to register
The webinar is free and open to all Ohio small business owners. The SBA's general disaster assistance line is (800) 659-2955.
The Dublin Chamber posted the event listing on Aug. 22, the same day the region's stretch of more than 11 consecutive days of rain was forecast to end.
