By Steve Kemme
The Cincinnati Enquirer

HAMILTON - Good news for people worried about flooding: the Great Miami River is going down, and federal money is starting to flow for victims of the June floods in Butler County.

The Great Miami at Miamitown and Hamilton has been dropping steadily since Thursday morning.

In Miamitown, the river crested at 7 a.m. Thursday at 18.5 feet, 2.5 feet above the flood stage, according to the National Weather Service. By Friday afternoon, the river had dropped to 16.5 feet.

In Hamilton, the river crested Thursday morning at 13.7 feet, 4.3 feet below flood level.

Greater Cincinnati escaped the heavy rainfall that had been predicted for Thursday. The storms struck areas 10 to 20 miles to the south.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Small Business Administration has approved its first loans for victims with uninsured damages from the June 14-15 flooding.

Three low-interest loans totaling $27,800 were approved this week and five loan applications were rejected, said Ana Walraven, an SBA loan officer working at her agency's temporary disaster assistance office at Wilson Middle School in Hamilton.

The SBA has issued 70 loan applications to victims of the flood since it opened a temporary office in Hamilton on July 1 and has received 23 completed applications, she said.

The SBA's temporary office will be open from 8 a.m. to noon today and will be open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

"We'll keep it open as long as there are people coming in," said Matt Young, a spokesman for the SBA's regional office in Atlanta. "We want people to try to come in while we have our staff there and meet somebody face-to-face and get their questions answered."

The deadline for applications is Aug. 25.

Those who don't qualify for SBA loans can apply for Ohio's individual assistant grants.

More than 300 homes in Butler County sustained damage during last month's flooding.

E-mail skemme@enquirer.com