I left the office Wednesday evening with a plan to accomplish something at home — I wanted to mow our grass.

As I headed west toward Belmont from Martins Ferry, I couldn’t help but notice dark clouds gathering overhead. While waiting at a traffic light I checked the weather app on my phone. Sure enough, it indicated that showers would begin within the hour.

I rushed straight home, determined to achieve at least something. Not long after I started trimming the edges of the lawn, though, lightning split the sky above and thunder rumbled as rain started to fall. Reluctantly, I went inside and figured wouldn’t make any more progress that evening despite the fact that the shower was fairly short.

A bit later, the rain started again. This time I was working in my home office and realized how loudly those drops were pounding on the roof. Looking out the window, I realized that the gutters couldn’t contain the volume of water that was falling. My freshly tilled garden was flooded, and fast-moving streams of water poured down the streets and sidewalks.

A similar storm happens at least once almost every June. And every time, my thoughts turn to the 26 people who lost their lives to flash flooding along Wegee and Pipe creeks on June 14, 1990.

Records indicate the soil around Shadyside already was saturated due to heavy rain throughout the month of May. Another 3-5 inches of rain fell that fateful day, running off the steep hillsides and dumping into those streams. The results were horrific.

Houses and mobile homes were pushed from their foundations, causing some to collapse. Debris piled up behind bridges and formed temporary dams that quickly gave way, unleashing “walls of water,” as described by witnesses, that reached 20-30 feet in height.

The unexpected deluge killed 24 individuals along Pipe and Wegee creeks and two more on Cumberland Run.

Debris dumped from the mouths of those tributaries into the raging Ohio River. The current carried it downstream for miles, where much of it became lodged behind the Hannibal Dam. Authorities said it formed a floating raft that covered 15 acres.

Most of the 26 people who died were found among the refrigerators, furniture, toys, tires, dead livestock, and portions of homes mixed with hundreds of trees in the debris. A monument erected in their memory stands along Pipe Creek Road today.

According to Ohio History Connection, the Shadyside Flood of 1990 was the deadliest flood in Ohio since 1969, when 41 people died and more than 500 were injured in north-central Ohio in flooding, tornadoes and severe storms on July 4. OHC states that rainfall of 5.5 inches, with 3 to 4 inches in a single hour, fell on June 14, 1990, and that about 80 homes were destroyed in the stream flooding and another 250 damaged.

Thirty-two years ago, the people of the Ohio Valley were simply going about their business when Mother Nature struck. Those who lived along those streams outside Shadyside were not expecting to lose their cars, their homes or their loved ones that day.

The survivors spent months trying to recover and rebuild. State and local officials and first responders as well as the National Guard stepped in to help. Together, they shoveled through mountains of debris, recovered a few precious possessions and, later, razed or rebuilt damaged structures and made a fresh start.

Many of the people who lived along Pipe and Wegee creeks in 1990 still live there today. I have talked with some of them time and time again when the anniversary of the flood has been observed. I always ask them why they chose to stay. Each time, they tell me that was their choice because the area is and always will be their home.

Tuesday marks yet another anniversary of that deadly day. Everyone in the Ohio Valley should take time to remember the victims and to admire those who persevered and remained in their homes. And we all should remember that the Shadyside flood is proof positive that “it can happen here.”

Summer weather can be dangerous and unpredictable. When the ground is saturated, as it is right now, a heavy shower can cause flooding just about anywhere. Summer storms can also bring dangerous lightning, strong winds and hail, as well as tornadoes.

As we remember the victims of the Shadyside flood, let’s honor their memory by making sure we are prepared for whatever nature brings. Remain on guard, plan ahead, learn how to protect yourself and let’s make sure we prevent another, similar tragedy.