The Southeast Ohio region, including both Athens city and county, are still recovering from the heavy flooding that occurred Aug. 11. According to a report from the iAlert website issued by NWS Charleston, West Virginia, the city was met with approximately three to five inches of rainfall.
Andy Stone, the service-safety director for the city of Athens, discussed the impact the flooding had on the city.
“There was debris in streets, several different places,” Stone said. “We had clogged storm drains after the fact as sediments and woody material washed into storm drains, and we had some instances of manhole covers that blew off. So we had to cover those and get them put back in place.”
According to Stone, the most intense flooding was centralized around the Richland Avenue corridor.
According to the Athens City website, the Hocking River, Margaret Creek and Coates Run are the main points of flooding in the city of Athens.
“We had clogged storm drains after the fact, as sediments and woody material washed into storm drains,” Stone said. “And we had some instances of manhole covers that blew off, and so we had to cover those and get them put back in place.”
The day of the floods, the city posted a warning on Facebook, telling residents to avoid roadways, specifically Richland Avenue as well as East State Street, between Stimson Avenue and May Avenue. The Athens County Sheriff’s Office also posted a warning, saying the Glouster area was most impacted and urging people to not drive through the floods.
The Athens City Police Department posted Aug. 11 that the flooding was also impacting East State Street. The report said the Hocking River had a projected crest of flooding at 21.5 feet, which would flood the Athens Community Center parking lot and tennis courts.
Stone said the severity of the floods likely resulted in water damage to some basements in areas that were heavily impacted.
Ohio University students were also impacted by the Aug. 11 flooding. Avery Fain, a sophomore studying nursing, said she was not near Richland Avenue, but her residential area was still affected.
Fain said the flooding impacted her day-to-day activities, as well as her work commute “a little bit, just because the place where I was at, my parking lot did flood.”
Athens City Council member Michael Wood posted a video on Facebook on Wednesday, Aug. 12, walking along East State Street by Kindred Market talking to neighbors about flooding. He said in the video he wanted to be aware of the situation and let people know that flooding is an important issue on the city council’s radar.
In the video’s comment section, Wood said there are some solutions being considered to help lessen flood damage.
“We’ve increased our paved non-permeable surfaces and taken away natural absorbing barriers … I’ve been big on rain gardens and better water catchment from the start,” Wood said.
Stone said there are minimal preventative measures to be taken for floods because it is not “typical or reasonable, and we can’t afford it … the taxpayers wouldn't stand for overbuilding infrastructure to that level.”
However, Stone did mention some of the ways the city is attempting to resolve the impact of the recent flooding as well as mitigate effects from any future floods.
“We'll go around and attempt to reopen storm drains that have gotten clogged with debris,” Stone said. “We will try to remove sediment from bridges that go over the top of creeks if it's built up there. Cut trees down that block drainage ways.”
Stone provided some cautionary information in the event of another flood. He said that the common phrase “turn around, don’t drown” holds true during a flood, as cars are often swept away by flood waters.
He also said that people should avoid driving in general during floods, as roads and bridges can be damaged in a way that isn’t always visible.
“Most of the deaths and injuries from flooding occur with people driving through floodwater,” Stone said. “It's very easy for a car to lose traction on the roadway when it's in water, number one. Number two, when water is moving across the roadway, you don't necessarily know what's under it. It's possible that there was a bridge there, and the bridge is gone.”
