Strong storm
Trees down; power out; roads flooded; more may be ahead todayBy Sam Shawver, sshawver@mariettatimes.com
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Fact Box
Local forecast
- Today: Showers likely with a chance of thunderstorms. Highs 70 to 75.
- Tonight: Chance of showers. Lows 50 to 55.
- Thursday: Mostly cloudy with showers and thunderstorms. Highs around 70. Lows 50 to 55.
- Friday: Mostly sunny. High 79. Low 49.
- Saturday: Partly cloudy. High 81. Low 59.
High winds, 2.60 inches of rain mostly falling in less than two hours, and marble-sized hailstones played havoc with trees, power lines and storm drains across the Pioneer City as severe thunderstorms raged through the Marietta area Tuesday evening.
And there could be more to come today, according to the National Weather Service.
Thunderstorms matching the intensity of Tuesday's could return this afternoon or evening, said meteorologist Nick Webb, with the weather service in Charleston, W.Va.
"It's a good bet," he said.
The cold front causing the storm is expected to move through the area today and Thursday, according to the weather service. Storms should be out of the area by Friday.
A total of 924 Washington County customers of American Electric Power were still without electricity as of 7:30 a.m. today, according to the company's Web site. A total of 1,417 customers in Morgan County remained without power at 7:30 this morning.
"Strong winds knocked trees into power lines and also downed some of our utility poles," said AEP spokeswoman Tammy Ridout. "Most of the affected Washington County customers were located in the Marietta area where we expect to have power restored by 5 p.m. (today)."
Washington Electric Cooperative reported more than 400 customers were without power today, according to Ken Schilling, president of the utility. Most of the co-op's outages were along Ohio 26 east of Marietta, Schilling said.
The deluge generated by Tuesday's storm overwhelmed Marietta's storm sewers and caused flash flooding in Goose Run, sending brown waters surging across Glendale Road that trapped the occupants of a Ford Taurus sedan near the McDonald's restaurant around 7 p.m.
"We were sitting on our front porch at the time and saw that traffic was backing up or turning around," said Glendale Road resident Ginni McAlarney.
"My sister and I went to see what was going on, and saw a mom and two kids had gotten out of the (Taurus) and were huddled under a dumpster lid beside the (Marietta Middle School) maintenance building," she said. "We brought them up to my house, then went back to direct traffic away from the flooded roadway."
Next-door neighbor Simone McAlarney said her power went off shortly after the 6:30 p.m. storm began.
"The water came up across the road quickly," she said. "My kids were freaking out because we had lost our previous home in the 2004 flood. I had to keep assuring them it wouldn't happen again."
Marietta Fire Chief Tom Dempsey called in everyone available from the fire department to staff all three stations. Firefighters also assisted city crews in removing downed trees and limbs from area roadways as well as helping to open overwhelmed storm drains.
Basement flooding was reported in some homes and at the McDonald's restaurant along Glendale Road, and the east and west approaches to the Washington Street Bridge were also reportedly under water for a time.
Portions of Gilman Avenue also flooded, and crews were still removing debris in that area after midnight.
Dempsey said a foundation collapsed at 614 Seventh St., and a roof blew off of another home at 734 Fifth St. "But we got a tarp over it," he said.
"A tree also fell on a car in the 400 block of Fifth Street, but it didn't look like there was a lot of damage to the vehicle," he added.
When power went out at the Arbors of Marietta, Dempsey said crews took Ambu Bags, manually-operated ventilators, to the nursing facility for patients whose electrically-regulated ventilators were affected by the power outage.
"We received mutual aid from Mecorp, Fearing, Devola, Reno and Oak Grove volunteer departments," Dempsey said. "Thanks to all the people and volunteers who came out to help."
Butch Badgett, who lives on Maple Street, said the Harmar area was hit hard.
"We lost a big section of our fence around our property," he said.
Badgett said there were a lot of trees down, but power was still on in his neighborhood at 9:30 p.m.
The storm toppled two trees against the Lancaster Street home of Frank and Ruth Wallace around 6:20 p.m.
"The first tree came down on the back of the house. It was a cherry tree," Frank Wallace said. "It ripped up another tree and both of them came down against the back of the house."
The back door was blocked at the house where the Wallaces have lived for 36 years, they said.
At one point, downed trees blocked access to Harmar Hill from Pearl Street Extension, Lancaster Street and Slaughterhouse Hill.
Washington County Sheriff Larry Mincks said the storm damage seemed to have been concentrated on Marietta and areas south, including Belpre. He said little damage was reported in outlying districts.
Tuesday evening's Williamstown City Council meeting was canceled due to the storm and ensuing power outages. The meeting had not been rescheduled as of Tuesday night.
"I'm not sure when we will have the meeting," said Mayor Jean Ford.
Ford reported many trees down and standing water in the parks in Williamstown.
"There are trees down and our parks are flooded," Ford said. "There is more we have to worry about."
Evan Bevins, Connie Cartmell and Jolene Craig contributed.
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ColtsMommy
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06-03-09 1:52 PM
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We had hail that ranged from pea size to golf ball size. The cloud to ground lightning did a lot of damage in our area. It struck and toppled 2 trees which went through the roof in 3 different spots of our neighbors home. It is a complete loss. Thank the heavens that the kids who were home alone were unharmed, scared, but unharmed. A big thank you to the Williamstown Fire Department for responding so quickly!
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peppie
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06-03-09 1:19 PM
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That was quite a storm that went through the area yesterday evening. We were without electric for about six hours. I felt sorry for the people who had to be out in that weather restoring electric and making emergency runs and any others who had to be out there working. Good job.
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