The City of Hamilton is shipping 50 cases of its bottled water to Eisenhower Elementary School in Flint, Mich., according to City Manager Joshua Smith. He said the 1,200 bottles of water will provide relief to every student and their family.
Flint residents have been subjected to chemical byproducts, E. coli, Legionnaires' disease and lead after the city's water source was switched to the corrosive Flint River in 2014.
Although the city has switched back to Detroit's water supply, health officials say so much damage was done that the water coming out of the taps is still not safe for children in the economically depressed city.
Many residents of Flint -- where 40 percent of the residents live in poverty and the average household income is $25,000 -- are relying on donated bottled water, city officials said.
Kevin Maynard, Hamilton's director of public utilities, said the city's water, because of its numerous awards, is "a point of pride in the community," so it's satisfying to share it with others in need.
Maynard said the city sells a case of water for $4.99, so the 50 cases are valued at just under $250.
He said the water is expected to be picked up at the city's water plant between 10 and 11 a.m. today, then delivered to Flint with other water and emergency supplies donated to Matthew 25 Ministries, based in Blue Ash.
Three years ago, Hamilton's award-winning water was sent to Moore, Okla., as part of relief efforts after a deadly tornado.
Meanwhile, a Butler County agency is in Baltimore assisting in emergency operations centers after the city's biggest snow storm, said Matt Haverkos, director of the Butler County Emergency Management Agency.
He said 15 members of the Butler County Incident Management Team will spend a week in Baltimore at the request of the Maryland EMA. Those people represent numerous Butler County fire and police departments from Monroe and Oxford and Fairfield, Deerfield and Morgan townships and the Ohio EMA, he said.
The agency over the years has responded to a variety of emergencies, Haverkos said.
Two of those responders are Monroe firefighters/paramedics, said John Centers, fire chief. He said Todd Waddell and John Day went with the team and they're performing different duties in Baltimore. He said they're making sure that the responders have housing, food and equipment, Centers said.
"They're extremely busy," Centers said.
He said about 1,500 people and 600 pieces of equipment have been sent in to assist in the snow removal.
"There is almost no way to plan for a storm like this," he said. "It basically shuts down your infrastructure immediately."
The preliminary measurement of 29.2 inches of snow at Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport from Friday night through 7 p.m. Saturday made last weekend's storm No. 1 in the record books.
The storm also buried parts of Virginia and West Virginia with as much as 40 inches of snow. It was potentially one of the five biggest storms to hit the Interstate 95 corridor from Washington to New York, and blamed for at least 12 deaths, mostly in traffic accidents.
This article contains reporting by the Associated Press.
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