The name of the victim was being withheld late Monday pending notification of relatives.

Steady rain throughout the day Monday prompted the National Weather Service to issue a flood watch for the entire Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky area, but no serious flooding is expected before rain tapers off this morning.

Monday was a good day for umbrella salesmen and a bad day for the carwash business, as most areas experienced constant rainfall.

But after possibly heavy rain overnight, the weather is expected to be dry the rest of the week, according to Myron Padgett, National Weather Service meteorologist.

A traffic crash on rain-slicked northbound Interstate 75 in Lockland about 7 p.m. forced closure of the northbound lanes for more than three hours.

About the same time, lightning caused about $2,000 damage when it struck a two-story house in the 200 block of Greenwell Avenue in Delhi Township. No one was at home at the time.

There were scattered reports of flooded basements.

By 9 p.m. Monday, 3.55 inches of rain had fallen at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport since midnight, Padgett said.

The amount of rain Monday exceeds the normal total for the entire month of October - 2.86 inches - Padgett said.

The rain is a product of a warm front across the Ohio River Valley that is pulling moisture north from the Gulf of Mexico, he said.

Rainfall for the month before Monday totaled 1.38 inches.

E-mail bweathers@enquirer.com