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No major flooding expected from weekend rain

Submitted photo The Great Miami River at the low head dam in Hamilton.

ENLARGE PHOTO

Staff photo by Nick Daggy The Great Miami River’s water level has risen due to recent rain storms over the weekend.

ENLARGE PHOTO

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Staff Report Updated 8:07 PM Sunday, March 14, 2010

The Great Miami River and its tributaries in Butler County never reached above their banks Sunday, March 14, despite downstream flooding and three previous days of rain.

Rainfall amounts were expected to add up to an additional inch of water to the area through Sunday evening, pushing water levels of the Great Miami River at or just below the flooding stage, according to Andrew Snyder, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Wilmington office.

But river levels were falling Sunday evening. And those on the ground Sunday afternoon had no problems to report in some of the county’s low-lying areas.

“Everything is within its banks, and it looks like it’s kind of starting to recede,” said Utah Bailey, Butler County’s safety director.

The river crested at 10.97 feet in Middletown Sunday evening, just three inches below the flooding stage.

Further down river in Hamilton, the NWS said the Great Miami crested at 70.87 feet late Saturday evening, March 13. At its highest, the river was less than five beet below the point of flooding.

NWS officials explained the river depth in Hamilton is based on the city’s position above sea level; the river is not 70 feet deep.

A high pressure system moving through the area this week will bring dryer weather starting today, March 15, said Brian Coniglio, a meteorologist with the NWS Wilmington office.

Officials from the Miami Conservancy District said they expected the rain to cause a “pretty normal average Spring rise in the river,” so areas protected by the levee and dam system are not expected to flood.

A flood warning for the Great Miami River in Hamilton County’s Miamitown runs until late Monday evening as waters could reach nearly two feet above the 16-foot flood stage.

About 5.71 inches of rain have fallen on the area since January, still under the yearly average of 7.23 inches, according to the NWS.

Get the latest forecast.

Journal-News.com

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