Archbold Soaked By 5.2 Inches Of Rain In 72 Hours
by David Pugh Buckeye Staff Writer

Scenes like this were common Monday, Aug. 20, when heavy rain fell. At top, 16-year-old Preston Zornes cleans debris from the driveway culvert at his home on St. Rt. 2, while his cousin, 12-year-old Camie Avresch, Bucyrus, stands by. Below, a sport utility vehicle splashes through a puddle at the intersection of South Defiance-Lafayette streets and West Barre Road.- photos by David Pugh

All those prayers for rain back in July have been answered.

Frank D'Ambrosia, superintendent of the Archbold Wastewater Treatment plant, said Monday, Aug. 20, an inch and a half of rain fell between 7 am and about 9:30 am.

In the 24-hour period starting at 7 am Sunday, Aug. 19, 2.6 inches of rain was recorded. During the preceding 24 hours, from 7 am Saturday, Aug. 18 to Sunday, another 2.1 inches of rain fell- on top of the half-inch that fell between 7 am Friday, Aug. 17 and Saturday.

That's a total of 4.7 inches of rain in 48 hours, and 5.2 inches in 72 hours.

Since the calendar turned to August, over 8 1/2 inches of rain has drenched the area.

Reports from Archbold seem to suggest the M K village came through the monsoon-like conditions well.

D'Ambrosia said Monday morning, the heavy rains filled the village sanitary sewer lines.

"We did need to use a couple of our portable pumps. We set them up to get (waste) water through the plant quicker," he said.

Also, because Brush Creek was up, the plant could no longer gravity feed its end product, so a pump had to be set up to pump into the creek.

This was the first major rainstorm since a multi-million dollar renovation project had been completed at the plant. D'Ambrosia said the storm "gave the plant a good workout. Under our new capacity, we saw what the plant could do."

D'Ambrosia said he'd heard one report of a flooded basement, but said that home is in a low area.

Storm Sewers

Bob Seaman, Archbold village engineer, said, "This office has received zero calls concerning the storm sewers and the impact of the rain. I would say the storm sewers are functioning perfectly.

"There are no problems I am aware of," he said.

Grant Bernath, street department

superintendent, said there were only two streets that flooded in the village, both of them due to trash and debris clogging catch basins.

One was in the Woodland Oaks subdivision; the second was on Park Street.

In both cases, once the debris was cleared, the standing waster drained away.

Jim Meyer, assistant highway superintendent for the Fulton County Highway Garage, said there were a few places on county roads that flooded. Most locations were areas that usually flood as water from flooded fields extends onto the road surface.

Meyer said most problems were in eastern Fulton County.

The west half of the county still looks good, he said.

Only one county road was closed, and that was Co. Rd. F between Co. Rds. 1 and 2 in the Swanton area.

He received several reports of water in the basements of homes, "and there are a couple we're watching kind of close," he said.

On Tuesday, two county highway garage workers were clearing debris from catch basins.

Randy Ruffer, president of the German Township Trustees, said there was no major flooding on township roads. Places that usually flood after a heavy rain flooded, he said.

"The rain in our area didn't come down in buckets. We had a lot of rain, but it came down gradually," Ruffer said.

No German Township roads were closed as of Tuesday.

State Routes

Toby Hines, superintendent at the Ohio Department of Transportation Fulton County Highway Garage, said every one of the 40 high water signs his facility has in stock were out along a highway Monday.

While there was water across the road on St. Rt. 2 and St. Rt. 66, the biggest problem for ODOT was the viaduct on St. Rt. 2 east of Delta.

It has been five to six years since there had been a serious flooding problem at the viaduct. Hines said water began backing up into the viaduct at 10 am Monday. It was reopened about the same time the following day.

Flooding occurred at all the usual places, he said, along with some new places that popped up.

Water was across the road on St. Rt. 2 at three places, the intersections of Co. Rds. 21 and 22, and one spot west of Co. Rd. 20.

Also, there was flooding on St. Rt. 66, at the curves south of the unincorporated community of Zone, and another spot north of Zone.

There is also an area that floods south of Fayette on St. Rt. 66.

By midday Tuesday, all the water had receded, high water signs had been picked up, and ODOT crews were repairing washed-out sections of the berm, or shoulder, on the road.

Farmers

Roy Norman, organizational director for the Fulton County Farm Bureau, said the biggest immediate issue the heavy rain poses for Fulton County farmers is getting the hay harvested.

The rain may have assisted some late-maturing types of corn to fill out their ears, but high water may lead to stalk disease.

Weakened stalks could be pushed over by high winds.

Soybeans, he said, could be under some pressure from fungus and other diseases, and there could be some sudden death of soybeans if water does not recede quickly.

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Simple as it seems, it was a great discovery that the key of knowledge could turn both ways, that it could open, as well as lock, the door of power to the many.- James Russell Lowell