Flood — Lucas, Ohio

2015-06-26 to 2015-06-28 · near Berkey, Lucas, Ohio

Event narrative

Rain gauges across Lucas County measured upwards of 5.78 inches (Toledo Metcalf Airport) on the 27th. A Cocorahs rain gauge 2.2 miles WSW of Toledo measured 3.70. This heavy rain over already saturated soils created widespread flooding in Lucas County. Over 600 homes reported flooding to the local officials. Most of the flooding was contained in basements. Widespread road closures continued into the 28th.

Wider weather episode

An intense low pressure system developed over the Southern Plains, in conjunction with an upper-level trough. This low pressure system developed much like a winter weather system, as the storm deepened as it progressed eastward. The upper-level low also became a closed-low, which is typical of a winter system. The slow movement of this system brought extremely heavy rain to northern Ohio with some locations in NW Ohio receiving up to 6' of rain in a 52 hour period. Several areas in Northwest Ohio were flooded due to excess rainfall and standing water was high in area ditches and fields. Homes in Avon Lake and Bay Village once again had flooding issues, as this area received another 2.5-3' of rain and did not fully recover from excessive rainfall from earlier in the week.

Winds were very strong with this system as it approached from the southwest. Gale force winds were recorded on portions of Lake Erie and strong northeast winds caused lakeshore flooding in Lucas, Ottawa, and Sandusky counties. Several trees and large branches fell with the strong winds and the high amounts of water that fell through the month of June.

Many rivers in northern Ohio flooded. The Cuyahoga River at Independence and the Portage River at Woodville both went into major flood. The Maumee River at Grand Rapids and Waterville approached 100 year flood levels and water entered businesses in the downtown district of Grand Rapids.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (41.7182, -83.8998)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 590988. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.