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Resident urges Reynoldsburg to plan emergency shelter after 27‑hour outage at mobile home park
Summary
A resident said 139 units at Reynoldsburg Estates Mobile Home Park lost power for about 27 hours after a windstorm and urged the city to identify shelter options for elderly and medically vulnerable residents. The mayor and council acknowledged the need to review emergency preparedness and noted interim options such as registering medical needs with AEP and using hospital lobbies in urgent cases.
During the public‑comment portion of the March 23 meeting, resident Ruth Gerke of Reynoldsburg Estates Mobile Home Park told the council that a recent windstorm left 139 mobile homes without electricity for roughly 27 hours and that more than 40% of the park’s residents are elderly or medically vulnerable. “About what a week and a half ago or so, when we had that bad windstorm, we lost our electricity like thousands of other people did in the area,” Gerke said. “139 trailers, mobile homes were without electricity. Over 40% of our residents are elderly and most of them are single living in these homes.”
Gerke said she was surprised that Reynoldsburg had no apparent local emergency shelter for residents who needed warmth, charging for medical equipment or basic services during the outage; she asked the council to consider establishing or arranging shelter options. Council members and the mayor thanked her for raising the concern and said the city is looking at options for seniors. One speaker noted that area hospitals allow people to wait in lobbies in some situations and that affected residents can contact AEP to be placed on a medical‑priority list with supporting documentation from a doctor.
Mayor Joe Begany also highlighted that April is tornado‑awareness month and emphasized that the city needed to address emergency preparedness. He said roughly 5,000 people in a broader area experienced outages during the most recent event and urged staff to pursue solutions for vulnerable residents.
Council members encouraged staff to follow up; council did not take formal action during the meeting but directed attention to emergency‑preparedness planning and potential sheltering options for future extended outages.
