'We've never seen anything like this': Lorain County Fair washed out for the day

Wednesday, Jessica Forthofer showed a champion steer at the Lorain County Fair. Then she watched her shoes float away. Forthofer, 17, was one of many fair participants surveying the damage Thursday after a storm dumped several inches of rain throughout the county. "We've never seen anything like this," said Forthofer, who's been showing animals at the fair since she was nine years old. "We've had rain, but never this bad." The fair board canceled the truck pull scheduled for Wednesday night, and after surveying the damage early this morning, kept the fair closed for today. All events have been postponed, including the Junior Fair auction. "Today, the junior fair board is going to clean up the fair and make sure everything's OK for tomorrow," said Zoe Gifford, 18, of Wakeman. "Hopefully we'll reschedule the auction too." Gifford said she went home around 9:30 p.m. last night, and was getting updates on the weather as the night went on. Forthofer was camping with her family at the fairgrounds. "It flooded our whole camper," she said. "Our bottom step was underwater. Our fire ring was underwater. Then we saw our coolers floating down the aisle. Our shoes were floating down the aisle too." Gifford said there was some flooding at the Junior Fair Board office as well as in some of the barns. "But we got some brooms and got the water out," she said.