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Valley begins mop-up

Highest Ohio River crest in 13 years leaves behind mud and muck

JANELLE PATTERSON The Marietta Times Volunteers and staff push out mud and water inside Boathouse BBQ on the city's west side Monday as flood waters from the Ohio River leave behind a mess.

Volunteer clean-up, city crews clearing roads and the aftermath of a drowning were addressed Monday following receding floodwaters.

The Ohio River flood waters crested at 1:30 a.m. Sunday morning at 37.92 feet according to the U.S. Geological Survey, the highest it has been since Jan. 8, 2005 when the river reached 43.6 feet.

Meanwhile veterans of past floods were quick to don boots and pull out hoses as clean-up from the weekend’s high waters.

“It’s still beautiful in the middle of all this,” said Janet “Sheila” Wilson as she rinsed river mud off her Virginia Street sidewalk.

JANELLE PATTERSON The Marietta Times AEP Ohio trucks move through Virginia Street Monday as workers try to restore power to homes that had basements flooded this weekend.

Wilson said all of her neighbors had water come into their basements, but none had suffered too much damage.

“We’re just hoping for the best the rest of the week and for power sometime soon,” she said. “It got a little eerie Saturday night after I lost power around 6 p.m. and it started to get cold. But we’re survivors. It was amazing to see the high water and then the pretty snow. This is just a moderate flood.”

Wilson’s neighbor Leota Kernan, 83, said it takes the Ohio River getting to 45 feet to make it onto her first floor, so this weekend she just waited out the high waters after getting her belongings out of the basement.

“I was 2 in the 1937 flood so this isn’t my first rodeo. I don’t like leaving the house so I just went upstairs,” she said. “I’m sure it is scary though when you go through your first one, but then you see that the neighborhood comes out with their shovels and hoses and we get it cleaned up.”

Steve Peters, owner of Boathouse BBQ, hooked up large hoses to a pump set up in his outdoor seating area Monday, using the river water to blast away mud off of parking at his restaurant and from inside the building.

JANELLE PATTERSON The Marietta Times A volunteer pushes mud into the street outside Boathouse BBQ Monday.

“After we clean up we can see how much damage there is, then we’ll fix that, sanitize, paint and have the health department inspect before we re-open,” he explained.

The restaurant’s entire structure, sans the roof, was underwater both Saturday and Sunday with Peters and his staff and volunteers only able to finally get in around 11 a.m. Monday.

Though Peters had hoped to use fire hydrant waters to clear off the river mud from his lot, street and surrounding property, he said he was denied his request.

Marietta Water Superintendent Jeff Kephart released the following statement concerning the matter:

“Unfortunately, the Ohio EPA will not allow direct connections to fire hydrants without a backflow device due to cross-contamination with our system. Bacteria and river contaminates are the last things we want to expose our customers to. This would also cause water quality issues for everyone, the risk of broken hydrants and water lines, and eliminate the ability to properly account for usage/treatment of the water in our systems,” said Kephart. “The City of Marietta is doing everything in our control to make this disaster easier (for) everyone. Thank you to all volunteers who have helped their neighbors or even strangers.”

JANELLE PATTERSON The Marietta Times Janet "Sheila" Wilson, explains the process of cleaning up after flood waters recede from her Virginia Street home in Harmar Monday.

Kephart also said the water plant has three backflow units available for rent but reiterated that the main priority during flood situations is to continue access to safe, potable drinking water.

Marietta Safety-Service Director Jonathan Hupp also noted that the city’s priority is to open transportation routes as the roads become passable.

The Williamstown Bridge was re-opened by noon Monday but other low blocks throughout downtown and Gilman Avenue on the west side remained closed throughout the day and into the night.

“Our priority is unfortunately not Mother Nature’s priority,” Hupp said. “As the river releases the streets we’ll work to get them cleaned and back to public use. We’ll try to reclaim them as quick as we can, but there are some streets we thought we could reopen (Monday) but were weird because they hadn’t flooded before with similar water levels. So we would rather play it safe through the night and address it again in the morning.”

Hupp added that storm drains throughout the city were checked for damage Monday and a few quick repairs were completed.

“We’ll go back out tomorrow to check that they hold and see if additional work is needed,” he said. “Then alleys will need to be addressed with dumpsters put back and garbage cleaned and we’ll address the River Trail with a couple of tractors after the waters go down and streets are cleared.”

David Labes, owner of Emanuel’s Bakery on Front Street, said while water had been in the basement of his restaurant, nothing was damaged.

“Now it’s time to clean up and open back up,” he said. “The volunteers that helped us move the ovens out (Saturday) were amazing.”

Peters had the same to say for volunteers who moved tables, chairs and even boat docks.

“The river community is one that sticks together,” he said. “Some of the staff won’t even take a dime from me until we get back open.”

At Marietta College, classes were back in session Monday, despite a late-night protest Sunday evening by the student government advocating for the safety of faculty, staff and commuter students and requesting that employees of the college be allowed to stay home without loss of pay Monday. This was in response to a late-night email stating that faculty and staff were expected to be at work, or take a vacation day, said students.

The protest lasted until 2 a.m. Monday in front of the college president’s home.

“We are disappointed in the administration’s failure to heed our concerns because we, as a student body, are now unable to volunteer in the community for the day, which we feel would be a much more meaningful use of our time,” said David Erzen, secretary of the association. “While classes occurred…our protest on President (Bill) Ruud’s lawn was a great success in driving a critical conversation amongst students regarding important safety and logistical concerns.”

Out in the county, Washington County Sheriff Larry Mincks noted one death related to the high waters.

The body of Robert T. Urbanek, 69, of 12410 State Route 26, Marietta, was found in a ditch in Whipple after waters receded.

“High water was on State Route 821 at the railroad and evidence suggests that on (Friday) after playing pool at the tavern (Urbanek) was headed back to his girlfriend’s at 6850 State Route 821, just a few hundred yards away, but got swept up in high water,” said Mincks. “We surmise that the high water swept him down in the ditch and we believe he drowned.”

Mincks said Urbanek’s body was transported to Montgomery County for an autopsy and toxicology report.

Elsewhere in the county though Mincks reported that roads were passable as Monday wore on.

Josh Harris, fire chief for the Lowell-Adams Volunteer Fire Department, said Lowell was spared from the weekend waters.

“We got along pretty well up here, only a few houses got water and we helped a few people out but that’s about all,” he said.

Reno Volunteer Fire Chief Dan Ritchey said devastation was nonexistent in his area, with only two rescues needed over the weekend for people trapped by higher water.

“But there’s not damage or really much to clean up,” he said. “I think Marietta had it worse.”

The same was true for New Matamoras, according to Water Superintendent Greg Danver.

“We were (surrounded by water) from about late Saturday until early Monday morning,” he said. “But people around here still could get out on the back roads they knew about. We were pretty lucky this time and it looks like there’s only a little to clean, no boil advisories.

By the numbers

≤ Ohio River at Marietta: Crest at 37.92 feet at 1:30 a.m. Sunday. Flood stage is 35 feet.

≤ Duck Creek at Whipple: Crest at 14.76 feet at 1:45 a.m. Saturday.

≤ Muskingum River at Beverly: Crest at 31.77 feet at 7 p.m. Friday before falling to 21.08 feet by Monday. But the Muskingum is predicted to rise again through Friday at 7 a.m. with a forecast crest of 28.1 feet. Flood stage is 29 feet.

≤ Ohio River at Willow Island: Crest at 40.45 at 2 a.m. Sunday.

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