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VIDEO: Flooding Causes Road And Park Closures In Northern Athens County
By: Gabe Ross
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For the last two weeks, heavy rains have pelted Southeast Ohio, causing excessive ground saturation and flash flooding. Roads have seemingly turned into rivers, while parks have turned into lakes.
The Sunday Creek spilled over its banks in the village of Trimble Tuesday, causing more than a foot of water to spill on to the road.
In the neighboring village of Glouster, a park normally filled with children is now seen filled with garbage and other floating debris.
The scene is disheartening to some, but it's not an uncommon occurrence. According to one man, flooding has actually been worse.
"We get flooding like this usually yearly," said Glouster Police Officer Ryan Nagucki. "We've had it a lot worse where it has shut down the whole highway and all the way downtown has been flooded."
Glouster Memorial Park was one of the worst-hit areas. The baseball diamonds and picnic shelters are almost completely submerged.
As the flood water creeps toward the road, emergency officials are working together to re-route traffic around washed out routes.
"We work with the fire department and o-dot and the highway patrol and our local street department on road closures to see what roads need to be closed and if we have to make some rescues," Nagucki said.
According to Nagucki, nobody has had to be rescued within Glouster so far. That’s a different case just outside the village limits, where the Ohio State Highway Patrol rescued a man who became trapped in high water on State Route 13. The road was closed in both directions Tuesday due to the high water.
Nagucki said, that rescue could have been easily avoided.
"Make sure if you see the road closure signs, don't try to go through any high water whatsoever,” Nagucki explained. “It's dangerous, your car gets stuck and you put other people’s lives at risk when you ignore those signs."
According to the National Weather Service, Heavy showers and thunderstorms are expected through Wednesday evening. A Flash Flood Watch remains in effect for much of the region until Thursday morning.
As for Glouster Memorial Park, it will remain closed until the water levels recede and a full clean up can be performed.
"We have a lot of local volunteers that have been working in the area and kid groups that are going to help us clean up and pick up trash and just try to make the park a better place again," Nagucki added.
To see more road closures and detours due to flooding, visit the Ohio Department of Transportation's OhGo Website.