WHEELING — A pattern of thunderstorms on the forecast every afternoon and evening this week, except Tuesday, has the potential to create flash flooding in Ohio and Marshall counties.

Bill Modzelewski, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Pittsburgh, said the “slow thunderstorms” on the forecast this week have an average predicted rainfall of a tenth of an inch to a half-inch.

Modzelewski noted that “heavier pockets of rain” could occur during these storms, with anywhere from 2 to 5 inches of rain per hour falling. He added that the potential for flash flooding will increase if heavy rainfall occurs in an area multiple days in a row.

“There’s potential for flash flooding, especially for areas that get rounds of thunderstorms or slow thunderstorms,” Modzelewski said on Monday. “There were some locations yesterday in Western Pennsylvania that had close to 2½ inches of rain, so it’s just going to depend on how heavy the rainfall is over the next several days.”

Ohio County residents continue to rebuild following flash flooding June 14 that destroyed dozens of homes, caused millions of dollars in property damage and killed nine people.

Ohio and Marshall County Emergency Management Agencies are monitoring the forecast this week for potential thunderstorms. Both agencies advise residents to make sure they can receive emergency alerts from the NWS, particularly for flash flooding.

Ohio County EMA Deputy Director Tony Campbell said Ohio County was not currently expecting flash flooding in the area but was prepared in the event of “pop-up thunderstorms.”

“If it starts to rain hard, I’ll immediately call the Pittsburgh Weather Service to get an indicator of how long the rain is going to last, an approximation of how much rain is going to be dumped and how fast it’s moving,” Campbell said. “We kind of calculate what we have then and make preparations in case something does occur.”

Marshall County EMA Director Tom Hart said heavy downpours were expected in the county. Marshall County EMA staff will be monitoring different areas of the county more susceptible to flooding throughout the week, including Boggs Run, Jim Run, Little Grave Creek, Big Grave Creek, Upper Grave Creek and Fish Creek.

Hart said additional factors increasing the risk of flash flooding were the greater amount of moisture in the atmosphere than normally expected in July and the lack of wind movement in the mid- and upper-levels of the atmosphere.

“The National Weather Service is seeing a lot of wind movements that push and steer the storms, so we’re seeing these slower storm systems that are putting down more rain,” Hart said. “There’s been a trend of slower-moving storms over the past couple of weeks because you’re not seeing the wind at the mid- and upper-levels of the atmosphere that pushes these storms.”

Campbell said Ohio County EMA would be monitoring humidity as well, noting that all this week there would be “higher than normal humidity.”

Ohio County EMA is also monitoring storms in the Pennsylvania area. Campbell noted that the June 14 flash flooding came from a storm cell in West Alexander and Washington, Pennsylvania.

“Little Wheeling Creek runs from that area down, the same way Big Wheeling Creek comes from Pennsylvania as well,” Campbell said. “If there are storms in that area where it would run down through Little Wheeling Creek, we would certainly send out notices to residents there.”

Hart said they were also monitoring the rainfall to the east and southeast of the county, as those areas also contain Ohio River tributaries. He noted that if other waterways outside the county that feed into the Ohio River flood, this could also lead to potential flooding of the Ohio River.

“We’re monitoring the situation comprehensively because there are a lot of different factors on what could happen,” Hart said. “Another area we have got to keep focused on is the Upper Grave Creek watershed because one of the flood control dams just east of Cameron is out of service because of longwall mining. A lot is going on with these types of weather systems.”

Campbell and Hart advise residents to monitor the weather forecasts this week and to turn around and seek an alternate route if they come across a flooded roadway. Hart said residents can report flooded areas to the EMA when they are in a safe position to do so.

“Between law enforcement, fire departments and our office, we try to monitor the potential for flooding conditions on a daily basis,” Hart said. “Residents need to stay informed as flash flooding can happen within minutes, if not seconds, which is what we saw in Ohio County in Triadelphia and Valley Grove.”

Campbell stressed that motorists should not drive through water on roadways, adding it was the “worst thing you can do.”

“You can’t judge the depth of rushing water, which was proven in the Triadelphia and Valley Grove flooding,” Campbell said. “That flood water can do major damage, even small amounts of it, when it’s flowing at that capacity.”