June 14, 1990, seemed like any other dreary day that week to me.

It was a Thursday, and I was living in Fairborn, Ohio, attending college at Wright State University. It had been warm and muggy, and about an inch of rain fell there that day. Before going to bed that night, I flipped on the TV to check the 11 p.m. news and weather report.

I was stunned at what I saw. The news was reporting that dozens of people were missing after flash flooding tore through a Belmont County community. Of course, being born and raised here, I was riveted. I soon learned that a couple of creeks I was familiar with not far from my home in Belmont had suddenly flooded, destroying everything in their path.

I decided then and there that I needed to head home for the weekend. I didn’t know if I could do anything to help, but there were plenty of people I wanted to check on.

As soon as my classes ended Friday, I packed up the car and headed north to Interstate 70. I drove straight through Columbus and Zanesville without stopping to eat or take a break.

After I arrived at home, and talked to my parents, I started reaching out to friends. One of them, Jay Clevenger, was involved with the Bethesda Volunteer Fire Department. He suggested that we take a drive down to the Ohio River.

By that time, we knew the authorities were warning people to stay away from the Shadyside area. Approaching the region devastated by the flooding was dangerous, and it hindered the efforts of qualified individuals who had their boots on the ground searching for victims.

So instead, Jay and I drove to Wheeling. We crossed over to Wheeling Island and decided to walk across the Suspension Bridge to see how high the river had gotten. I remember looking down through the grates that make up the driving surface of the bridge and feeling like the water was only a few feet beneath it. The bridge trembled from the force of the current.

I spent the remainder of the weekend at home, reading the newspaper and waiting to hear how many people had been lost — and whether my family knew any of them.

The stories of rescues and heartbreaks that followed over the next several days were incredible.

Although 34 people were reported missing shortly after the flooding occurred, in the end a total of 26 people died. Some were found at the mouths of the creeks, while others were discovered amid a field of debris that collected just north of the Hannibal Locks and Dam.

Over the past 35 years, I have reported on the anniversary of this tragic event many times. I have talked to dozens of people who were there when the flood happened and throughout its aftermath. I have been able to see and hear the impact that it had on their lives.

I have also heard explanations and theories about what caused the deluge to occur. Although officials who investigated determined that debris in the streams was caught behind bridges and formed dams that broke loose when more than 4 inches of rain fell in about two hours that day, tales persist that a dam at an old col mining pond gave way and sent the “wall of water” rushing down those streams.

Emergency management officials, other county leaders and Mead Township trustees all have worked to mitigate the hazards that persist in those areas.

Work to clean up and maintain the stream beds was done early on, but most officials say the best way for residents there to protect themselves is to help ensure that dams of debris can never form again. They have campaigned to remove junk vehicles, tires, trash and other objects from the flood plain, where they can wash into the creeks even during moderate flooding.

Most residents I have talked to along Wegee and Pipe creeks believe such a flood will happen again. They say properties are not being maintained well enough, and that junk and debris can be found in many places near those streams.

Let’s hope that they are wrong. And let’s hope that each anniversary of the tragedy serves as a reminder to those who can take steps to improve conditions in those areas to do so.

My heart goes out to the families of all those lost in the flood, even these many years later. Who knows where those individuals might be today if the flood had never happened?