County official reports donated water supplies, urges caution as cold snap continues

An unidentified county official told the Morrow County Board of Commissioners that the county has received donated bottled water and is coordinating local warming centers as it continues to respond to a prolonged cold snap.

“We did get 9 pallets of water total, donated to, to the county,” the official said, naming partners including Kroger, Dollar Tree and Citreon Ag Systems. The speaker said most of the water has been distributed to two large trailer parks and other community locations, and that the fire department is holding a pallet-and-a-half at the fire station for residents who call for help.

The official asked libraries to serve as warming centers during their working hours, saying he had visited libraries to confirm they are willing to open: “we might wanna bring a good 10 or so cases to them” for summertime cooling-center use as well.

Commissioners and staff discussed public-safety challenges created by unplowed driveways. The official said EMS and fire crews have reported access problems and that callers are being asked, “Is your driveway plowed? Is there access to your house?” He added that the county had requested state assistance and experienced a delay: “I told the state we had a need, and it took till yesterday.”

The update also noted that much of the county had remained on a Level 1 status during the event, with pockets of drifting and areas where roads were temporarily impacted. Officials thanked first responders and township crews for continuous snow-removal work.

Next steps: county staff will continue distributing donated water, coordinate warming-center capacity with local libraries, and monitor EMS access needs as weather conditions evolve.