Flash Flood — Jackson, Ohio

2011-05-10 to 2011-05-11 · near Ray, Jackson, Ohio

Event narrative

The emergency manager summed the event by saying, we had roads, bridges, culverts, everything with high water, and so many responders in rescue boats.

The Little Salt Creek basin was hard hit around the town of Jackson. Several homes were surrounded by water knee deep in the town of Jackson, plus in the villages of Oak Hill and Coalton. Basements were flooded. One resident had 3 feet of mud in their basement, saying, it occurred all in just 10 minutes. The resident said they had seen flooding, but nothing like this. Firefighters and deputy sheriffs evacuated about 100 people from their homes. One hard hit area was an apartment complex on Huron Street in the town of Jackson. One resident said, it got into our home very fast, flooded our vehicles, and we had no way out.' A number of folks were stranded in flooded vehicles too. The county reported over 65 water rescues. Temporary shelters were opened at the Oak Hill firehouse and a church in Jackson. The state of Ohio reported 40 homes had major damage and 35 homes had minor damage. Eleven businesses had minor damage.

Wider weather episode

Repetitive showers and thunderstorms, moved southeast through western Vinton County, Jackson County, and western and central portions of Lawrence County between 1500E and 1830E on Tuesday, the 10th. This convection was just northeast of the surface warm front. A sharp dew point gradient existed along the front. Surface dew points were around 70 degrees just southwest of the boundary. Luckily, later that same evening, repetitive convection occurred in the Scioto River Valley, missing this area just to the west.

Initially, the main impact was large hail. As back building caused repetitive showers and thunderstorms, flooding became the primary issue. Maximum rain amounts of 3 to 4 inches were observed. Jackson measured 3.35 inches. Waterloo observed 3.76 inches. South Point had 3.25 inches of rain.

Luckily, no injuries or fatalities occurred.

State assistance money was committed to aid uninsured homeowners and renters.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (39.1906, -82.7580)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 299374. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.