Flash Flood — Crawford, Ohio

2021-07-16 to 2021-07-17 · near Monnett, Crawford, Ohio

Event narrative

Widespread flooding in northern Crawford county. Several roadways with flowing water over the road due to flooding of Broken Sword Creek north and northwest of Bucyrus, including OH-4 and OH-19. Water several feet deep at Temple Road and Bethel Road northwest of Bucyrus. Several inches of water flowing over OH-98 near Sulphur Springs. Tiffin Street Trailer Park flooded in Bucyrus. Water 2-3 ft. deep on roadways in Sulphur Springs. OH-602 closed between Remlinger Road and OH-98 due to flooding of a tributary of the Sandusky River. Radar estimated a swath of 2 to 3.5 of rainfall across the northern part of the county in a 3 hour period.

Wider weather episode

A cold front moved southeastward from Lower Michigan to Lake Erie during the evening and overnight of the 15th and then stalled in vicinity of the southern lakeshore by daybreak. This was in response to one surface low moving northeastward from southwestern Quebec toward the mouth of the Saint Lawrence River, while another low moved along the front from eastern Iowa to near the Michigan/Indiana border. Ahead of the front, several multicell thunderstorms generated damaging wind gusts in northern Ohio on the 15th and 16th. These storms occurred in a warm sector comprised of moderate to strong instability and DCAPE, and moderate effective bulk shear. Training thunderstorms along and ahead of the cold front during the afternoon and evening hours of the 16th led to flooding and flash flooding across portions of the area. Widespread rainfall amounts up to one inch were reported, with several swaths of rainfall from 2.5 to 4 where the flooding occurred.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (40.7685, -83.0650)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1010501. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.