Wednesday, January 05, 2000
Area recovering from storm drenching
BY KEVIN ALDRIDGE
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Evendale firefighters Roger Neff and Kirk Mousa clean mud off Exon Drive.
(Glenn Hartong photo)
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Tristate residents spent most of Tuesday morning slogging through muddy basements, fishing for belongings and looking over damage in the wake of a storm that dumped more than 6 inches of rain in parts of the area and caused some localized flooding.
Monday's springlike storm, which spawned at least one tornado that injured at least 12 people and shut down Owensboro, Ky., sent many local streams and creeks spilling over their banks. Several businesses were damaged, and two local schools were closed Tuesday because of storm-related problems.
The National Weather Service in Wilmington, Ohio, reported 24-hour rainfall totals for Monday of 3.29 inches at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, 4.27 inches in Mason, 5.08 inches in Clermont County and 6.62 inches in Mount Airy.
“This is by far the most rain I've seen over a 24-hour period in my 33 years,” said Lee Speidel, a lifelong resident of Deerfield Township, which reported about 5.7 inches of rain. “This was very much a record-setting rain for us.”
Brian Coniglio, a weather service meteorologist, said flooding caused by Monday's rainfall could have been worse, if not for drier conditions earlier in the year.
a “What didn't help was the fact that the trees didn't have any leaves on them to help soak up any of the precipitation,” he said.
The Metropolitan Sewer District received more than 200 calls from people who had basement flooding or complained about flooded streets. Ann Newsom, spokeswoman for MSD, said the agency had 15 crews working Monday night to make sure sewer lines were not blocked in problem areas.
Sharonville, Mount Healthy and Cheviot were among the hardest-hit areas, but most neighborhoods in the region suffered from the storm, she said.
“You name the neighborhood, and it was a hot spot for us,” Ms. Newsom said.
Water problems kept two Catholic schools closed Tuesday — Mount Notre Dame High School in Reading and St. Michael Elementary in Sharonville. Classes at both are expected to
resume today.
At St. Michael, rainwater backed up into pipes at the school at Creek Road and Oak Street, leaving about an inch of water and mud in about half of the lower-level classrooms and hallways. The water had receded by Tuesday morning, and parent volunteers and school workers were scrubbing and disinfecting the seven classrooms affected.
“This is really nothing new for us,” said Bill Frantz, business manager for St. Michael. “When the heavy rain starts, we move everything to higher ground.”
Kevin Kaiser, Reading's acting fire chief, said water seeped into a construction area at Mount Notre Dame and damaged electrical wiring.
Fire officials in Evendale estimated as much as $20,000 in property damage from storm water that spilled from the Mill Creek into several businesses along Exon Avenue.
“We had up to 7 inches of water, sewage and creek mud in one portion of our facility this morning,” said Larry Smith, facility manager for Clayton Industries in Evendale.
In Warren County's Deerfield Township, fire officials reported flooding caused some minor property damage in the Little Miami riverside neighborhood of Loveland Park.
In Northern Kentucky, the most obvious signs of the storm were in rural, western Pendleton County on Jagg Road, where a suspected tornado damaged two barns, two homes and some trees, said Craig Peoples, disaster emergency services director.
Mr. Peoples and National Weather Service analysts toured the area Tuesday in an effort to determine if the damage was caused by a tornado.
“No one was hurt, and there really was nothing else that was very severe,” he said.
Dan Klepal, Andrea Tortora, Sue Kiesewetter and Walt Schaefer contributed to this report.
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