CINCINNATI — Goshen Township continues to take steps to repair damaged homes and businesses after an EF2 tornado ripped through town.
"Everything is bouncing back," said lifelong resident John Rose. "It’s going to take a couple years to get everything back to where it was."
Rose's house was one of the dozens damaged by the tornado.
'Roof and gutters, windows, brick — we had some water damage in the basement from some water backup and mold treatment," he said. "The only thing we’re really waiting on is carpet."
But, things are starting to look up. After five and a half months, his house finally has windows.
"We got all in finally last week and it was a big change because for the last five and a half months there’s been nothing but plastic over the top of this window," Rose said.
However, there are several homes that are still boarded up. Rose said he feels luckier than most and is grateful he’ll be home for Christmas.
“The house is functional enough for us to be here for the holidays, and we’ll be 100% moved back in after the first of the year,” Rose said.
Goshen was devastated by an EF2 tornado, in July. Five months later, homes and businesses are still being repaired. The fire station was heavily damaged and had to move its headquarters.
— Jessica Hart WCPO (@JessicaHartTV) December 19, 2022
Here’s what the station looked like hours after the tornado hit versus today. @WCPO pic.twitter.com/qzRNLG8h9U
Goshen Township Fire Chief Edward Myers said it’ll take two to three years to fix their station.
"We lost approximately 3,000 square feet of our headquarter station after the tornado," Myers said. "Most of our operations were headquartered out of here at Station 18, which are now headquartered out of Station 19. We do have a temporary station at our old service department which changed the response times, but they’re still the same."
They lost their workout room, bathrooms, showers and sleeping area.
"It’s definitely changed the way we see things," Myers said.
Myers said it was an adjustment to move their headquarters. Currently, they’re waiting on the architects and construction manager to do a cost-benefit analysis to see if the station is worth fixing or if it’s better to rebuild it. They’re hoping to have an answer to that question in March.
Darrell Edwards, superintendent of Goshen Public Schools, said they have some work to do to repair the school. Next summer, they’ll install a new gym floor at the high school, complete roofing repairs and replace classroom windows that were blown out by the tornado. Edwards said they put temporary fixes in place so they could start the school year on time.
Edwards added the long-term recovery committee received over $200,000 in donations. Those funds helped over 75 families impacted by the tornado.
Myers noted the people of Goshen are resilient and will continue to work until their town is back to the way it was before the tornado.
"You know there’s a light at the end of the tunnel, and we’ve got a long way to go yet here in the township, but we’ve come a long way,” said Myers. “If you look at it compared to what it was the day after the tornado to where we’re at today. It’s a tremendous difference."
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