Flash Flood — Lorain, Ohio

2015-06-23 · near Avon Lake, Lorain, Ohio

Event narrative

A series of thunderstorms rolled in off Lake Erie during the early morning hours of June 23. Between 5 am and 6 am three separate storms hit northeast Lorain and northwest Cuyahoga Counties with heavy rain and strong winds. The radar estimates rainfall amounts of around 2.5 to 3 inches in a little less than two hours. The rainfall rates spiked to over 5 inches per hour during the height of the storm dropping 2.5 inches in 30 minutes. This intense rainfall overwhelmed storm drainage systems resulting in widespread basement flooding which started before widespread power outages. Some homes on Lake Road had up to five feet of water in their basements. Bay Village received between 2.8 to 3.5 of rain during about a two hour time period which resulted in over 400 homes with basement flooding. The heavy rain fell on ground that was already saturated which exasperated the flooding conditions. The Water Treatment Plant was forced to dump untreated sewage directly into Lake Erie in order alleviate flooding into residences. Interstate 90 in Rocky River was closed in both directions due to flooding and standing water. There were no official rain gauges located in the band of heaviest rainfall. The nearby gauges at Westlake and Sheffield Lake reported 1.80 and 1.90 respectively.

Wider weather episode

In the early morning hours of June 23, a cluster of thunderstorms developed over Lake Erie. These storms moved ashore off of Lake Erie around 4am with extensive tree damage to the immediate lake shore counties around the Cleveland metro area. Damage was reported in Avon Lake and Madison. The ASOS at Burke Lakefront Airport also reported a wind gust of 52 mph. Shortly thereafter, a residual line of thunderstorms moved across Lake Erie onto the lakeshore. This line of storms had produced damage in Michigan, including several tornadoes. The area impacted from the first round of thunderstorms from Avon Point to Geneva was also impacted by this next round. Eastlake had the worst damage from these storms as over 30 large trees were knocked down with several trees landing on homes, businesses, and vehicles. The three rounds of thunderstorms caused flooding issues in Avon Lake and Bay Village, west of Cleveland. Many basements flooded in these towns and some roads were closed due to high water. Many of these communities had 2 inches of rain in 2 to 3 hours.

Heavy rainfall of 1.5 to 2.5 inches of rain fell across mainly central Mahoning County during the morning of June 23rd. Lowellville received significant damage to McGill Street between Walnut and Wood Streets with the road considered to be a total loss. The drainage system could not handle the flow of water and caused the road to buckle in several locations.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (41.5200, -82.0200)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 591964. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.