Heavy rain soaks Ohio Valley, causes flooding and football changes
Trending
More than an inch of rain fell Thursday morning in parts of the Ohio Valley, which downed trees, made roads treacherous and forced high school football games to find new sites to play.
The area found itself under a flash flood warning Thursday morning and a flood watch into Thursday afternoon, and heavy rains in that period created problems around the area. According to the National Weather Service, 2.34 inches of rain fell at the Wheeling-Ohio County Airport.
Ohio County Emergency Management Director Tony Campbell said a tree fell on a culvert on Brown’s Run Road, off of Peters Run Road in Ohio County. That resulted in flooding of a roadway and the debris blocked an access road. Crews were clearing away that debris Thursday afternoon. Campbell said there was a similar situation on Dallas Pike Hill, but otherwise, “it has been pretty good.”
Marshall County Emergency Management Director Tom Hart said his county received between three-quarters to 1.5 inches of rain on Thursday morning. The heaviest rain fell in the northwestern areas of the county, he said, and Boggs Run was “running extremely high and very swift” Thursday morning.
There was street flooding on the 21st Street area off of W.Va. 2 in McMechen, an area notorious for flooding during heavy rains.
In Belmont County, water pooled on National Road, as cars sprayed it several feet into the air while driving through it. While Wheeling Creek near Bridgeport didn’t climb onto the road, the creek was high and raged alongside National Road. The rains also forced Bridgeport High School to move its home football opener at Frontier after several areas of its home field were left underwater from the storms. Bridgeport and Frontier ultimately played Thursday night at St. Clairsville’s home field.
Another flood warning was issued until 9:30 p.m. Thursday, but mostly clear skies are predicted for Friday. There’s a 50% chance of rain during the day Saturday and a 70% chance Saturday night, but rainfall totals aren’t supposed to be large.