The Night Visitor 2004
Harmar resident Dave Moyers was fishing from his front porch in September of 2004. The rivers had come up to visit him during the night. Convenient, right? Except it meant disastrous flooding for the entire area.
The remains of Hurricane Ivan had dumped 7 inches of rain on the upper Ohio Valley. Overnight on September 16, the river rose at the fastest rate ever recorded. Some said they could see the water creeping up minute by minute. Most were unaware until it was too late because a flood warning had been canceled the day before.
Water was already in most downtown buildings along Front Street by daybreak Saturday. Desperate merchants and residents waded through flood water to remove what they could. Volunteers showed up out of nowhere to help.
The Marietta College campus was jolted into action early Saturday morning. At 5:45 a.m., water covered Don Drumm Stadium field and would soon flood campus buildings on Fourth Street. Students were organized to move items up or into other buildings. Student Bethany Dykstra remembered the Resident Assistant in her dorm “pounding on my door at 8 am yelling for me to move my car because the Hermann (Fine Arts Building) lot was flooding…some cars were already under water…”
Karen Briley, then with Schafer Leather on Front Street, also recalled the rapid rise of the water. “We called family, friends, and anyone else to help us move everything upstairs,” she said. “We formed an assembly line and passed items hand-to-hand.”
Business owner Glenn Newman said that volunteers appeared to help him lift a piano above the water. His mother had saved that same piano from the 1937 flood. His voice hesitated with emotion. “I didn’t even find out their names.”
Dave Moyers, the front porch fisherman, took it all in stride. Fortunately, his house interior was dry. He caught no fish but did a lot of people and river watching.
Sunday the river crested at 44.97 ft. That made it one of Marietta’s top ten highest flood levels in the past 150 years. Government officials visited and pledged support. Congressman Ted Strickland walked around in his flooded office, stepping over dead fish. “It’s a tragic happening for so many…. heartbreaking.”
The cleanup began. Local, state, and Ohio National Guard crews worked 16-hour days to remove tons of flood debris. The flood caused millions of dollars locally in business losses and property damage. But everyone worked together to recover and “keep on keepin’ on.” Such is life on the rivers.