On June 29th and 30th, heavy rain and thunderstorms impacted a large part of the area, especially Paulding County, with flash-flooding. Later Friday afternoon, numerous heavy thunderstorms trained across a large portion of Paulding County, especially the central and southern part of the county. This prompted the National Weather Service to issue a flash flood warning. Rainfall totals from June 29th through the 30th were as high as five to seven inches across Jackson and Latty townships. Most of the county saw in between two and four inches of rain.
The worst of the flooding was due to the overflow of the Blue Creek, which caused major problems for companies like Baughman Tile, which saw flooding across its facilities and had issues with tiling being washed away. Evan and Caleb from Slatter Farms used a manure pump to help get rid of excess water at Baughman Tile. In Washington township, part of CR 177 just south of Melrose was washed away at a culvert due to the flash flooding. Due to the excessive rainfall, a lot of the township be rms need to be repaired or replaced because they have been washed away. Wayne Trace High School also faced flooding issues with a large portion of their track and football field submerged underwater.
Aaron Tim and crew from the Paulding County Engineers office helped to close off roads and kept people safe.
Flooding is one of the more subtle dangers of summer-time weather that is often overlooked. Flooding is deceptive in that even relatively shallow depths of flowing water can be dangerous, despite not appearing so. It’s also not hard to see flooding in a relatively flat area like northwest Ohio. With little elevation change to help with excessive water run-off, any long-lasting heavy thunderstorm or extensive heavy rain event could lead to widespread areal flooding, both from overflowing rivers/creeks and water pooling in low-lying areas. Climatologically speaking, the area is not necessarily prone to excessive rainfall, but these events are not uncommon. In August 2007, excessive heavy rainfall from training thunderstorms over a multiple-day period caused major flooding in many areas in Paulding, Putnam and Defiance counties. Ottawa and Findlay saw excessive flooding from the Blanchard River after as much as eight to ten inches of rain fell across the area. Other years with notable flooding events include 1982, 1996, 2011, and 2015. There is some indication from climatological records that average rainfall has increased across the area in the last twenty years. One reason why this might be the case is that the flow of moisture from the Gulf of Mexico has been increasingly shifting farther and farther north over the last several decades, and tropical moisture is one of the major reasons why the area often sees excessive rainfall events.
Remember: The key to safety in flooding events is to never drive through flooded roadways, especially when water appears to be flowing. There is little way to tell if a road has been washed out and you could be putting your life at risk if you do not take extra precautions. It only takes a few inches of rapidly flowing water to sweep vehicles off of a road. Turn around, don’t drown!
