Ohio News Roundup: Derecho Leaves One Dead, Lightning Injures 16 at Grafton Prison and More

Published Aug 15, 2026 · Community · Red Rock Daily staff

Here’s a roundup of recent Ohio news: a derecho and severe thunderstorms battered central and southeastern Ohio on Tuesday, leaving one person dead and tens of thousands without power, lightning struck Grafton prison injuring 16 inmates, the attorney general’s office indicted six Medicaid providers accused of stealing more than $558,000, Attorney General Andy Wilson moved to lead a class-action lawsuit against Roblox, and Gov. Mike DeWine made a public plea to the Trump administration to allow Ohio to keep immigrants.

Derecho and severe storms leave one dead, thousands without power

Severe thunderstorms and high-speed winds pummeled central and southeastern Ohio on Tuesday, Aug. 11, leaving a path of destruction and killing one person, while Cleveland escaped the worst of the storms (Cleveland.com, Aug. 12, 2026). As of 2:30 p.m. Wednesday, nearly 60,000 AEP Ohio customers were without power, with restoration expected to take more than two days; more than 135,000 customers lost power this week. Crews identified 110 broken poles and 646 spans of wire down in central and southern Ohio (Cleveland.com, Aug. 12, 2026).

In Columbus, high winds flipped a car on Interstate 71; a video posted online by Ohio Department of Transportation Secretary Matt Bruning showed the vehicle being lifted amid driving rains, with no injuries reported. The National Weather Service recorded wind gusts up to 80 mph and nearly 2 1/2 inches of rain in Columbus on Tuesday; the city’s August total so far is nearly 3 1/2 inches, well above the average 1.3 inches typical for this time of month. Cincinnati saw gusts up to 60 mph and just over half an inch of rain (Cleveland.com, Aug. 12, 2026).

The weather system through Iowa and northwest Indiana was preliminarily identified as a derecho — a windstorm associated with a band of rapidly moving showers or thunderstorms — and on Wednesday the NWS Storm Prediction Center extended its path into central Indiana, southeastern Ohio and eastern Kentucky. Gov. Mike DeWine declared a state of emergency in Perry and Muskingum counties due to flooding and deployed 40 members of the Ohio Army National Guard to support emergency rescue operations; he met with Perry County residents Wednesday afternoon (Cleveland.com, Aug. 12, 2026). DeWine said the person who died was killed when first responders were unable to reach them quickly enough during a flooding emergency (BBC, Aug. 12, 2026). “The biggest threat remains flooding, particularly flash flooding that might occur in the next several days,” DeWine said, warning residents not to drive past road-closed signs (Cleveland.com, Aug. 12, 2026).

Lightning strike at Grafton prison injures 16 inmates

Lightning struck an Ohio prison during Tuesday’s severe weather, injuring 16 inmates — including one who had to be airlifted to the hospital (BBC, Aug. 12, 2026). The prisoners were outside during the storm, moving between buildings after an evening meal, at Grafton Correctional Institution in Lorain County (BBC; News 5 Cleveland, Aug. 12, 2026).

Nine of the inmates have since returned to the correctional institution, while seven remain in the hospital, including one in serious condition, the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction said. No staff were injured. DeWine addressed the incident at a news conference Wednesday afternoon, saying that while prison policy is to keep inmates indoors during storms, officers did not think weather conditions indicated a lightning strike was imminent, so prisoners walked their normal outdoor pathway after dining (BBC, Aug. 12, 2026).

Six Medicaid providers indicted, accused of stealing $558,383

The state of Ohio has indicted six Medicaid providers on fraud charges for allegedly stealing $558,383 from the state-federal healthcare program for low-income residents (The Center Square, Aug. 14, 2026). One of those indicted is a business owner who “allegedly instructed employees to inflate claims,” Ohio Attorney General Andy Wilson said; the defendants also include “providers who billed for services while working other jobs and individuals who billed when clients were hospitalized or deceased” (The Center Square, Aug. 14, 2026). Spectrum News reported the six providers are accused of stealing over $500,000 (Spectrum News, Aug. 14, 2026).

Rasheedah Biles, 42, of Pickerington, is owner and operator of Reset Tomorrow, a Columbus behavioral-health program for children. The state began investigating the program in 2025 after flagging it for excessive billing. Wilson’s office says the investigation revealed she allegedly directed employees to inflate claims for services to children in the program’s after-school program and summer camp, and to residents of a group home for foster children — including upcoding and billing for services never provided — resulting in a $404,810 loss for Medicaid between November 2023 and October 2025. Another provider is accused of falsifying timesheets, claiming to have provided home-health services while a client was hospitalized, while she was working a separate full-time job, and during a six-month period when she could not work for medical reasons (The Center Square, Aug. 14, 2026).

Ohio AG Wilson seeks to lead class-action lawsuit against Roblox

Ohio Attorney General Andy Wilson is seeking to lead a class-action lawsuit against Roblox, accusing the gaming platform of misleading investors about child-safety protections (The Columbus Dispatch, Aug. 12, 2026). The Attorney General’s Office filed a motion Aug. 7 seeking permission for Ohio’s public pension systems to take the lead on behalf of investors; a federal judge in California is scheduled to consider the request Sept. 17.

The Ohio Public Employees Retirement System and the State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio say they lost a combined $21.5 million after investing in Roblox, and the lawsuit seeks to recover those losses. It alleges Roblox promoted itself as a safe place for children while failing to adequately protect them from predators and inappropriate content, and that investors lost money after Roblox said stricter safety measures slowed user growth and forced the company to cut its 2026 bookings forecast by $1 billion. “Roblox lied to investors and failed to protect children from online predators,” Wilson said. “We’re taking action to recover millions in lost pension funds and to make it clear that tech companies must be held accountable when they put kids in harm’s way” (The Columbus Dispatch, Aug. 12, 2026). Several other states — including Nebraska, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Indiana — have filed lawsuits against Roblox this year over child safety; Roblox has denied the allegations, pointing to measures such as chat filters and messaging restrictions for younger users (The Columbus Dispatch, Aug. 12, 2026).

DeWine pleads with Trump to let Ohio keep immigrants as Haitians face deportation

Ohio GOP Gov. Mike DeWine made a plea to the Trump administration — “Let us keep immigrants” — as federal immigration enforcement ramped up operations against Haitians in Ohio whose temporary protected status (TPS) was removed (Ohio Capital Journal, Aug. 14, 2026; The Guardian, Aug. 12, 2026). On Aug. 5, a federal district judge’s order that had blocked the end of TPS for Haitians was lifted after the U.S. Supreme Court backed the administration’s efforts, putting about 350,000 Haitians in the U.S. on TPS at risk of losing their status (The Guardian, Aug. 12, 2026).

In recent weeks, dozens of Haitian nationals living in Springfield — some asylum seekers, some TPS holders — have received emails from the Department of Homeland Security ordering them to report to an ICE facility in Blue Ash, often early on a Sunday morning, where ankle monitors have been attached. According to advocates and lawyers, those fitted with monitors will not be allowed to travel more than 75 miles from home without an immigration judge’s consent; the Blue Ash office is at least 71 miles from Springfield. NBC News reported that Haitians in Ohio who lost protected status are being fitted with ankle monitors instead of being detained (NBC News, Aug. 13, 2026). More than 12,000 Haitians have moved to Springfield over the last decade, working manufacturing and food-packaging jobs (The Guardian, Aug. 12, 2026).

For more on the Buckeye State, see the Ohio guide.