Saturday, January 23, 1999
Rain, snow-melt bring flooding
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Flood watches and warnings were posted for parts of the Tristate for today. Scattered patches of heavy rain were expected to add to an already unusually high amount of precipitation for the month.
The Great Miami River was expected to crest this afternoon at 20 feet, four feet above flood stage. That may result in water spilling onto low-lying roads, said Julie Dian-Reed, a weather service meteorologist.
Fayette and Franklin counties in southwest Indiana also may experience flooding from the Whitewater River, she said.
The Ohio River near Cincinnati should crest well below flood stage over the weekend, Ms. Dian-Reed said.
The Tristate has endured nearly twice the normal amount of precipitation so far this year, 3.3 inches of melted snow and rainfall compared to an average of 1.79, National Weather Service Meteorologist Brian Coniglio said.
Rivers and streams are overflowing their banks because the ground al ready is so saturated from melting snow and rain, Mr. Coniglio said.
The rain should end by Sunday — along with the unseasonably warm temperatures. Friday, the high was within two degrees of the 1933 record, 69 degrees, Mr. Coniglio said.
Sunday's forecast calls for cloudy skies and temperatures in the high 30s, he said.
Around the Tristate, two mothers and their daughters were believed dead after their cars were plunged into swollen streams near Richmond, Ind., and Lancaster, Ohio.
A 3-year-old girl was found dead Friday morning near Lancaster and her mother was missing after their car was washed away in a creek overflowing from rain. Another driver was injured when floodwater washed away part of a road that goes over Pleasant Run Creek, about 30 miles southeast of Columbus.
Near Liberty, Ind., about 10 miles south of Richmond, another mother and child were feared dead after their car was swept off a country road by the rain-swollen East Fork of the Whitewater River. The car was found 100 yards downriver, but its occupants were still missing Friday evening.
In the western Ohio counties of Preble, Darke and Shel by, floodwaters were up to 4 feet deep in some areas.
“We could have lost our lives,” said Cathy Tinell, who lives in New Paris, along the Ohio-Indiana border. “It was just gushing like a mad river. It was bad. It scared the life out of all of us. But we're here.”
Residents were evacuated from at least 15 homes in and around a trailer park in New Paris, said Ralph Kammer, a volunteer with the American Red Cross.
One resident reported the floodwaters burst open the cellar door of a home and flooded the basement, said Judy Smith, a sheriff's dispatcher in Preble County. “She said it was coming up the stairs.”
Much of Frankfort in central Indi ana was under up to 2 feet of water that blocked all the entrances to Frankfort High School.
In Madison County, northeast of Indianapolis, flooded Pipe Creek spilled over a levee east of Alexandria on Friday. While no evacuations were expected, sandbagging was under way in an effort to shore up the levee and protect about 100 homes
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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