REGION Massive rainfall causes cancellations in Valley

The Canfield Fair admissions director expects to make up for Friday's attendance losses over the weekend.
BY PETER H. MILLIKENVINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
After a long-standing lack of rainfall, the Youngstown area was deluged Friday, with some areas getting as much as 2 inches in 90 minutes and experiencing flooding.
Soggy conditions at the Canfield Fair forced cancellation of harness racing at the grandstand Friday evening and caused rides to shut down for safety reasons for two hours Friday afternoon and one hour Friday evening, said Timm Schreiber, director of gate admissions.
Schreiber, who said he measured 1.31 inches of rain Friday at his Austintown home, did not have Friday's fair attendance figures, but said Friday, with its competing high school football games, is typically the lightest fair attendance day.
With a perfect weather forecast for the remainder of the fair, which ends Monday, Schreiber said he expects to make up for Friday's attendance losses over the weekend. Despite the rain, parking conditions were good in the grass lots because of the previous dry spell, he said.
High school football: Due to flooding, the Campbell-Struthers football game, which was to have been played at Campbell Memorial High School on Friday evening was postponed to 7:30 p.m. today at the same location.
"Most of the major intersections in the whole city were flooded out. The sewers couldn't handle the huge amount of water in such a short period of time," said Campbell Fire Capt. Eugene Skelley, who added that the sewers were able to carry away the water once the rain stopped.
Power went out briefly for most of the city at 12:57 p.m., triggering many burglar alarms, Skelley added. A house on Bright Avenue suffered a power surge, which tripped its circuit breakers and cracked the cover on a light switch inside the house, he said.
Accident: Emergency crews there were also kept busy by a one-car accident at 2:50 p.m. in which Loretta Semanovich, 58, of Courtland Street, Campbell, lost control and struck a tree while driving southbound in the rain on Struthers-Liberty Road at Matawan Street, suffering facial injuries. She was listed in critical condition Friday evening in St. Elizabeth Health Center.
Campbell was especially hard hit with flooding along Wilson Avenue, which runs along the Mahoning River Valley at the bottom of a steep hill. Struthers residents also experienced backyard and basement flooding.
High water: Boardman experienced high water at Glenwood Avenue and West Boulevard, along West Parkside Drive and in Boardman Plaza.
A car stalled in high water along Shady Run Road during an afternoon thunderstorm in Youngstown.
The 911 centers in Mercer, Lawrence and Trumbull counties and the Columbiana County Sheriff's Office said they had no reports of flooding or power outages during Friday's rains.