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Flood warning: ‘Turn around, don’t drown’
YOUNGSTOWN
For the second time in seven days, rain falling on saturated ground caused riverfront flooding in the Mahoning Valley.
On Sunday, the National Weather Service had Trumbull and Mahoning counties under flood warnings, which extended until early today.
Specifically, the warning was for the Mahoning River at Leavittsburg and Youngstown.
On Sunday afternoon, minor flooding was occurring at Leavittsburg, where the river stood at 12.4 feet, which is 2.4 feet above flood stage.
Flooding was also occurring Sunday along Eagle Creek and other tributaries of the Mahoning in Trumbull County.
Minor flooding was reported on Eagle Creek at Phalanx Station in Braceville Township, with the creek at 11.9 feet, 2.4 feet above flood stage Sunday afternoon. Eagle Creek flows into the Mahoning River about 1 mile north of Leavittsburg.
A Trumbull County 911 supervisor said he had no reports of floodwaters entering homes or of roads closed due to flooding.
However, he said Braceville-Robinson Road was flooded Sunday morning, but not closed.
The 911 supervisor said that, as far as he knew, all roads were passable Sunday evening.
On the Mahoning River, the low-head dam at Leavittsburg was nearly obscured by the high water, and half of Perkins Park in downtown Warren was under water Sunday afternoon. In Youngstown, the Mahoning River was at 11.8 feet, which is 1.8 feet above flood stage.
Although the Mahoning River was overflowing its banks at Warren and running high in Youngstown, no flooding was reported at New Castle, Pa., where the Shenango River joins the Mahoning.
An all-day rain Saturday was followed by an evening temperature drop that changed the precipitation to light snow, which area residents awakened to find on Sunday morning. With no additional precipitation after that, the flooding was expected to subside early today.
The NWS renewed its warning not to drive on flooded roads, where the water may be deeper than it appears, with its slogan: “Turn around. Don’t drown!”
After an early-morning low temperature of 16 degrees, today was forecast to be mostly sunny, with a high near 40.
Sunday’s high water followed a much larger flooding problem last Monday, as 5 to 10 inches of heavy, wet snow, that had fallen on Feb. 25, melted under 1.5 to 2.5 inches of rain within six hours, with temperatures having soared into the 50s.
Last Monday, some Northeast Ohio communities experienced flooding equivalent to that of a once-in-100-year rain, the NWS said.
A check of the Mahoning River at the B&O Station Banquet Hall in Youngstown late Sunday afternoon revealed a swollen, fast-flowing river with numerous trees that normally stand on land standing in the river, but the water level was about 3 feet below that of last Monday’s flood.