Community preparedness — Ohio
Tornadoes, flooding, blizzards, lake-effect snow, and severe thunderstorms across 88 counties. OSU Extension everywhere. 70+ ham radio clubs. CERT teams from Cleveland to Cincinnati. Ohio is serious weather country and takes it seriously.
Enter your ZIP to find volunteer groups, training programs, civic organizations, and mutual aid networks in your area.
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Community calendar
88
County extension offices
3
NWS forecast offices
70+
Amateur radio clubs
23
Community colleges
Where to plug in
Ohio spans from Lake Erie to the Ohio River, and its hazards shift across that geography. Northern Ohio deals with lake-effect snow and Great Lakes storms. Western Ohio faces tornado risk on the open plains. Eastern Ohio deals with flooding in river valleys. Central Ohio sits at the intersection of multiple severe weather corridors. OSU Extension in all 88 counties anchors community resilience statewide.
Ohio State University Extension operates offices in all 88 Ohio counties. Programming spans agriculture (Ohio is a top producer of corn, soybeans, dairy), horticulture, food safety, nutrition, financial literacy, 4-H youth development, and community development. Ohio 4-H is one of the largest programs in the country, serving over 200,000 youth annually.
The Master Gardener program trains thousands of volunteers statewide. Extension runs food preservation workshops, farm management education, and severe weather preparedness programming. Whether you're in urban Cuyahoga County or rural Meigs County, your OSU Extension office is the most underused free resource in your community.
Ohio Emergency Management Agency (Ohio EMA) coordinates the state's all-hazards emergency program through county EMA offices across all 88 counties. Ohio EMA is experienced with tornadoes, flooding, ice storms, lake-effect snow, and the infrastructure challenges of serving major urban areas alongside heavily rural counties.
CERT programs are active across Ohio. Franklin (Columbus), Cuyahoga (Cleveland), Hamilton (Cincinnati), Summit (Akron), Montgomery (Dayton), and Lucas (Toledo) counties run established programs. After the Memorial Day 2019 tornado outbreak sent 36 tornadoes across the Dayton area in one evening, Montgomery County CERT saw significant growth. Training is free.
American Red Cross chapters serve all of Ohio through the Ohio Region. First aid, CPR, AED, and water safety classes are offered in Columbus, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Dayton, Toledo, and other communities year-round.
During the Memorial Day 2019 tornado outbreak, Red Cross opened emergency shelters across Montgomery, Miami, and Greene counties as neighborhoods from Trotwood to Beavercreek sustained major damage. Ohio Red Cross deploys for multiple tornado events every spring and responds to home fires in the major metro areas daily. Volunteer entry points include shelter operations, disaster assessment, and blood drives.
Ohio has over 70 amateur radio clubs in the ARRL Ohio Section — one of the largest club counts of any state. ARES teams are activated during tornado outbreaks, flooding, ice storms, and extended power outages. Ohio ham operators are experienced and well-organized, with active nets that provide real-time storm reports across all 88 counties.
Getting licensed costs $15 for the exam and about $35 for a basic handheld radio. Study at hamstudy.org. Clubs in Columbus, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Dayton, Toledo, Akron, and throughout the state host exams nearly every weekend.
Three NWS offices serve Ohio: Cleveland (northern OH and Lake Erie shoreline), Wilmington (central and southern OH), and Pittsburgh PA (eastern OH). Each runs SKYWARN spotter training before severe weather season. Ohio is one of the most tornado-active states east of the Mississippi.
Ohio averages about 20 tornadoes per year with some years producing major outbreaks. The state also faces lake-effect snow events that can dump 2+ feet in narrow bands, severe thunderstorms with large hail, Ohio River flooding, flash flooding, and ice storms. Training is free and runs about 2 hours.
Ohio has over 250 public library systems overseen by the State Library of Ohio — and Columbus Metropolitan Library consistently ranks as the most used library system in the country per capita. Cleveland Public Library, Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library, and Dayton Metro Library run extensive community programming.
Ohio has 23 community colleges, including Columbus State, Cuyahoga Community College (Tri-C), Cincinnati State, Sinclair Community College (Dayton), Lorain County CC, and Columbus State. They offer affordable EMT certification, fire science, welding, HVAC, electrical work, and nursing programs.
Why this matters
On the evening of May 27, 2019, a historic tornado outbreak struck the Dayton, Ohio metropolitan area. Over the course of a few hours, 36 tornadoes touched down across Montgomery, Greene, Miami, and surrounding counties — the most to hit the area in a single event since the 1974 Super Outbreak. The Dayton suburb of Trotwood was especially hard hit, with an EF-4 tornado cutting through a heavily populated African-American neighborhood. Across the region, thousands of structures were damaged or destroyed.
NWS Wilmington had issued warnings with significant lead time. Sirens sounded across the metro. Most residents sheltered in place. But in the hours after the tornadoes passed, it was community networks that organized the initial response. Volunteers from unaffected neighborhoods arrived with chainsaws and generators before dawn. CERT teams assisted with search operations and welfare checks. Ham radio operators provided damage reports to emergency management.
Red Cross opened shelters across Montgomery County. OSU Extension helped connect displaced families with resources. Churches in unaffected parts of the metro organized food and supply distribution. The community response was extraordinary — and it was built on preparedness infrastructure that existed before the storm.
Ohio's tornado history teaches the same lesson every time: the warnings give you minutes, the community networks give you the recovery. The organizations on this page build those networks across all 88 counties.
The foundation
Community resilience begins with a household that can take care of itself. Cover the first 72 hours, then extend outward to your street, your neighborhood, your town.
Start with the first 72 hours