As a fierce downpour soaked Cincinnati neighborhoods with several inches of rain on Friday, July 17, hundreds of first responders rushed to rescue stranded pedestrians and people in vehicles trapped in rising flood waters, according to city officials.
The flooding inundated businesses and homes across the city’s east side, leaving people to spend much of the following day cleaning up the damage and reorganizing their lives. It also caused injuries and even a death.
“This is pretty remarkable,” Cincinnati Fire Department Assistant Chief Matt Flagler told reporters on July 18. “It’s a great reminder to people that, when you hear a flash flood warning, that is something to absolutely take seriously.”
1 dead, 3 others injured after Cincinnati storm
One person was killed and three were injured as floodwaters rushed through Greater Cincinnati on Friday, Flagler said. The fatality and two of the injuries were in the village of Fairfax, just east of Cincinnati.
Flagler wasn’t able to provide more information about the death. The Enquirer has reached out to village officials and the coroner’s office for more information.
One person from Cincinnati was taken to the hospital, Flagler added. That person’s injuries were not considered life-threatening.
Fire, police slammed with 911 calls
The fire department responded to 40 water rescue calls on Friday, officials said.
Cincinnati’s 911 center was slammed when the storms began on July 17, according to the Cincinnati Police Department.
Spokesperson Brad Underwood said first responders had to prioritize rescuing people from flooded vehicles rather than closing flooded roads.
Between 5:42 p.m. and 7 p.m., he said police were dispatched alongside the fire department for water rescues 15 times. Additionally, the Metropolitan Sewer District had over 600 calls for service Friday night, Flagler said.
City data shows 165 incident calls were made during the flooding across all Cincinnati neighborhoods, with most coming from the East Side. Oakley had the most incidents by a considerable margin with 33, followed by Hyde Park with 20, Pleasant Ridge with 19 and Madisonville with 18.
Duck Creek floodgate didn’t close during storm
As the waters rose at Duck Creek, Flagler said, the floodgate failed to close and the creek overflowed its banks. Some of the most notable water rescues happened on nearby Madison Road.
Flagler said the city is working with the Army Corps of Engineers and the city’s stormwater management utility to understand why it didn’t shut. He noted that the same creek flooded in 2001, causing fatalities and widespread damage in Fairfax.
“We’ve been over there most of the day, poring over that whole system and trying to understand if there was a malfunction or not,” Flagler said.
Several inches of rain fell in a short time
Residents and businesses in the hardest-hit areas had to deal with torrents of water flowing through streets and into homes.
Oakley received between 4.4 and 6.6 inches of rain Friday, according to gauge readings submitted to the National Weather Service of Wilmington. Madeira, Norwood and Silverton each received about 4 inches.
Flooding was worsened by slow-moving storms that dumped all the rain in one area, officials said.
Oakley, Madisonville, Mount Lookout, Hyde Park and Pleasant Ridge were some of the hardest hit neighborhoods, Cincinnati Fire Department Chief Frank McKinley said. Businesses in these areas were quickly swamped, and some of their teams spent most of Saturday, July 18, cleaning up the damage.
Businesses and homes flooded
Hyde Park staple Neko Sushi was one of the businesses flooded.
“It was a natural disaster. I couldn’t stop it,” owner Yeon Kim told The Enquirer the day after the flood. At first, the water just covered Kim’s feet, but it eventually reached her knees.
Over in Mount Lookout, the flooding did extensive damage to some of the public infrastructure, as well as to some of the restaurants and businesses on the neighborhood’s main drag, known as Lookout Square. She said a Metro bus then drove by and caused a massive wave that shattered one of the restaurant’s glass windows, which let in even more water. It ended up rising to her hip.
Bricks and pavers were strewn about the sidewalks on the morning of July 18. At least two manhole covers along Linwood Street were dislodged by overflowing water from the storm, according to Brian Spitler, president of Mount Lookout’s community council.
Spitler was in the neighborhood’s central strip, helping businesses recover. At least six businesses flooded, he said.
“This has been happening about once a year now,” Spitler said. “We need to make sure that some long-term planning gets done.”
Zip’s Cafe, the Crystalary and VV The Italian Experience in the square all announced closures for cleanup and repairs. Deeper Roots Coffee on Madison Road, Oakley’s main thoroughfare, and Quince & Quinn, a furniture store, also posted closure signs.
Homeowners were also left grappling with the storm’s aftermath.
Ellie Palapa, 29, and her husband have lived in their 100-year-old house in Oakley for three years. It’s along the lowest point of Paxton Avenue, an area that Palapa says is prone to flooding.
In fact, the couple’s house has flooded four times since they moved in, she said. But the storm that rolled through Cincinnati on July 17 caused the most damage by far.
Usually, when the house does flood, it’s only several inches. She said up to five feet of water pooled inside their basement, high enough to engulf a desk.
“This is just way beyond what we’ve ever experienced,” Palapa said.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: ‘Remarkable’ storms left 1 dead, Cincinnati businesses, homes flooded
Reporting by Quinlan Bentley, Matthew Cupelli, Aaron Valdez and Cheryl Vari, Cincinnati Enquirer / Cincinnati Enquirer
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Quinlan Bentley, Matthew Cupelli, Aaron Valdez and Cheryl Vari, Cincinnati Enquirer | USA TODAY Network
