Flash Flood in Crawford County, Ohio

Heavy rain producing thunderstorms affected Crawford County during the late evening hours of August 20th and early morning hours of August 21st. Rainfall rates with the strongest storms exceeded three inches per hour. Trained spotters in Bucyrus measured storm totals of 8.68 inches and 8.5 inches respectively. About 5 inches of this total fell between midnight and 4 am. Runoff from this rain combined with ground already saturated from earlier rains led to catastrophic flooding across portions of Crawford County. Local officials stated that the flooding in the county was the worst ever! A total of 68 homes were destroyed with another 240 homes suffering major structural damage. Another 600 homes sustained minor damage with over 1200 additional homes affected (less than three feet of water in the basement). Many businesses also sustained significant damage. Some of the worst flooding occurred in Bucyrus were many people had to be rescued from flood cars. Hundreds of people had to be evacuated and including at least 30 that had to be rescued by boat. Crestline was also hard hit with water in some part of the town over waist deep. Significant damage was reported along Bucyrus Street and Thrush Ave. At least one business in Crestline was destroyed. Dozens of roads and streets had to be closed because of flooding. Damage to roads, bridges and culverts was extensive. Cleanup and overtime costs incurred by local government agencies was substantial. Finally, standing water and erosion from the runoff caused damage to agricultural interests in the county.

Moisture from the remnants of Tropical Storm Erin interacted with a stationary front to cause heavy rain producing thunderstorms over portions of northern Ohio. The thunderstorms trained across Wyanodot, Hancock, Crawford and Richland Counties during the early morning hours of August 21st. Catastrophic flooding occurred in all of these counties.