TOLEDO, Ohio — Lashae Okpah never would have guessed she'd have to climb a tree to get inside her great-grandmother's Toledo home for a visit. But after severe weather last week left damages and power outages across the region, that ended up being the case at 100-year-old Virginia Moody's home.
"I opened the door, and I was all upset and surprised to see all this stuff," Moody said of the debris left by the storm.
Okpah, 31, said her great-grandmother had been without power for days, and that she was waiting for the city to respond to a service request.
A spokesperson for the city of Toledo said the city has had 691 city service requests for tree damage and was still receiving requests Monday. The spokesperson went on to say that residents need to clean up their private properties.
Okpah sought out immediate help elsewhere.
"They had called the city, she couldn't get any help so I just went to Facebook because I'm like, 'someone will come help my elderly grandmother,'" Okpah said.
Okpah said within 24 hours more than 200 people responded to help.
"We had a couple of people out here trying to get up the scraps off the curb and they were doing as much as they could, but the tree is too big for most materials that people usually have at their house it would take a company," Okpah said.
With no access to Moody's insurance information, Okpah said they just wanted to try to clean the debris on their own so the electric company can access the downed power lines and restore electricity to the home.
"No one came out about the power and that's what we were worried about as far as food going bad in the refrigerator, so that's why we were trying to get the mess cleaned up as soon as possible," Okpah said.
Moody refuses to leave her home, so for now, family members take shifts to care for her. She believes it will be cleaned up soon, but with no electricity, her only entertainment is the view from the porch.
"The good lord is taking care of me, and I know he is," Moody said.