Flash Flood — Summit, Ohio

2003-07-21 to 2003-07-22 · near Countywide, Summit, Ohio

Event narrative

Thunderstorms dumped very heavy rains on Summit County causing catastrophic flooding in parts of the county. Rainfall rates exceeded two inches per hour at times during the evening hours. Many streams and creeks left their banks causing widespread flooding. Spotters measured 7.20 inches of rain at Richfield and a gage at Hudson High School record 3 inches of rain between 7:45 and 8:15 p.m. with a storm total of 7.5 inches. Five inches of rain was measured in Stow. Two men drown at approximately 8:50 p.m. in an underground parking garage at an condominium complex located along Atterbury Boulevard in Hudson. Witnesses indicated that the underground garage filled with water in just a few minutes. Nearby Brandywine Creek overfilled it's banks and flooded the complex. The creek rose at the rate of two feet every 10 minutes between 8 and 9 p.m. Flooding reached half way up the first floor of the buildings and around 80 residents of the complex had to be evacuated by boat. Bucket surveys upstream of the complex indicate that as much as 10.4 inches of rain fell on the 21st. A third man was electrocuted and killed while working in his flooded basement. Mud Brook left it's banks in the Merriman Valley neighborhood of northwest Akron and cut off an apartment complex on West Portage Trail. The three bridges leading to the complex were washed out trapping nearly 200 people. A temporary road was built and the residents were finally rescued late on the 22nd. Flooding also occurred in Twinsburg, Akron, Cuyahoga Falls, Peninsula, Copley, Bath, Boston Heights, Green and Stow. In Twinsburg, Tinkers Creek went into flood and damaged several dozens homes and businesses. Over 400 homes were damaged in Cuyahoga Falls by flooding. Most of the homes were in neighborhoods along 6th, 7th and Kilarney Streets. An automated rain gage in the area measured 4.60 inches of rain. Flooding affected large sections of Silver Lake and Stow forcing the evacuation of dozens of people. Spotters in Stow measured 6.28 inches of rain. Over 500 homes and around 30 businesses were damaged in Stow. Ten of the homes sustained major damage. People had to rescued from motor vehicles all over the county as hundreds of roads and bridges were either washed out or flooded. Flooding in Boston Township was the worst since 1913. Over $1 million in damages occurred to public property and roads in Hudson. Another $1.5 million in damages occurred to roads elsewhere in Summit County. Over 300 homes in the county sustained enough damage to be declared destroyed or uninhabitable. As many as 1,000 other homes and businesses sustained lesser damages. Damage estimates for the county top $100 million.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 5376645. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.