Flood — Seneca, Ohio

2013-12-22 to 2013-12-25 · near Tiffin Arpt, Seneca, Ohio

Event narrative

The Sandusky River at Tiffin came out of its banks after a heavy rain event on the 21st and 22nd. The river 11.11 feet, 0.61 feet above moderate flood stage. Flooding impacted Route 53 north of U.S. 224. Floodwaters also inundated Township Road 131. In the city of Tiffin, Water Street, Marlyn Street, Front Street, and Davis Street were inundated. There was one fatality on Maryln Street due to the flooding.

Wider weather episode

A storm system moved into the Ohio Valley from the plains over the weekend of the 22nd, bringing heavy rain and severe storms to central and northern Ohio. An unusually strong jet transported nearly historic amounts of moisture from the Gulf of Mexico into the region which pushed surface dew points to 60 degrees by Saturday evening. The warm air and strong winds aloft supported the growth of strong damaging storms and heavy rain. Most of the region measured between two to four inches of precipitation. The recently melted snow pack combined with runoff from the moderate to heavy rain that weekend resulted in widespread flooding with all rivers experiencing minor to major flooding. A warm front lifted north across the area during the evening hours. Strong to severe thunderstorms developed during the late evening hours of the 21st. Severe weather continued into the early morning hours of the 22nd. A lot of wind damage was produced by the severe thunderstorms. The damage was especially bad across northern Richland County.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (41.1414, -83.1727)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 483151. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.