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It was 10 years ago that Hurricane Ivan blew through the Ohio Valley with torrential rains that filled creeks and rivers to overflowing as far north as Pittsburgh where, on Sept. 17, news outlets were already reporting major flooding in the Steel City, which didn’t bode well for Marietta, a couple hundred miles downstream on the Ohio River.
“It was pouring down rain on Friday night, and (the National Weather Service) had issued a flood warning. We don’t have a back room, so we used the basement for storage,” recalled Becky Pritchett, co-owner of Twisted Sisters Boutique at 197 Front St.
She said the staff began moving everything out of the basement, working until 10 p.m. as the rain continued to pour.
“But then they called the flood warning off, so we went home,” Pritchett said.
Returning to the store Saturday morning, she realized the weather service had been wrong as water was covering several roadways along her route to downtown Marietta.
“We had five feet of water in our basement, but went to help other merchants who had been flooded,” Pritchett said. “Later volunteer firemen from Oak Grove came and helped us move items from the store up into the small apartment upstairs. Then we left to move our cars to higher ground. When we returned 45 minutes later the water had risen another two feet.”
There had been other floods and near-flooding events, but nothing about this flood was normal, Pritchett said.
“Typically the waters go down as fast as they rose, but it took two or three days that time,” she said.
Ken and Dagmar Kupsche opened The Cook’s Shop kitchen store directly across the street from Twisted Sisters a few years after the 2004 flood.
“Flooding wasn’t a big issue for us locating here, as this building only had about four to six inches in the basement from that flood, and it has outlasted many floods over the years,” Dagmar said.
The 1902 building has been renovated into the store and loft apartment by the Kupsches, who found evidence of past floods during the remodeling process.
“We found mud when we re-did the ceiling, and that’s 15 feet up from the main floor,” Dagmar said. “We haven’t had major flooding since moving here, but there have been a couple of close calls. All of our shelves are on wheels and can easily be moved up out of the way if it floods. And we do keep an eye on the river gauges when there’s a flood watch.”
Since the Sept. 2004 flood a series of high-tech gauges have been installed upstream along the Ohio River, on Duck Creek near Whipple, and on the Muskingum River in the Beverly area.
Real time data on stream flow rates and river levels is provided by the gauges, accessible online through the U.S. Geological Survey’s waterdata.usgs.org/ohio web site.
The gauges are designed to provide better advance warning and help prevent major damage during future flooding events.
“I think it’s a great system. This lets people see what’s coming from upstream and it should make a big difference in the amount of flood damage we receive,” said Marietta Mayor Joe Matthews.
He noted during his first terms in office, through 2003, he assembled a group of “river-watchers” who helped keep an eye on river levels and provide advance flood warning.
“They would contact the dams upriver to get river levels to help forecast what was likely to happen here,” Matthews explained. “It was an effective way to warn people about flooding, and I’m considering putting another river-watcher group together again.”
He recalled Hurricane Ivan’s march through the Ohio Valley in 2004.
“It rained hard, but the river didn’t rise until after the rain had stopped,” Matthews said. “We knew Pittsburgh was flooded, and whatever happens there is coming down here.”
Under sunny skies the Ohio River crested at 44.97 feet, nearly 10 feet above flood level, on Sept. 19, 2004, leaving much of the downtown area under water. Several locations in the city’s south end along Pike Street were also severely flooded.
Karen Briley with Schafer’s Leather on Front Street said the river waters rose quickly.
“On Friday night the number for the river crest was low enough that they called off the flood warning,” she said. “So people went home, and many had plans to go out of town for the weekend.”
Briley said after breakfast on Saturday she went to the river and could see it was still rising.
“We went to the store and started moving everything higher,” she said. “At 40 feet we knew the water would cover the main floor. But we had three feet of water there.”
Briley said there was a lot of flooding outside the city, too, noting she couldn’t get home Saturday night because area roads were covered with water.
Back at the store flood waters were lapping at the bottom of tables on which the store’s stock of boots and other leather items were displayed.
“We called family, friends and anyone to help us move everything upstairs,” Briley said. “We formed an assembly line and passed items hand-to-hand.”
Heading outside afterwards, she realized the intensity of the flooding situation as National Guard vehicles were driving through the streets.
On one corner of the Schafer Leather building are a series of marks showing levels of past floods. Beside the 2004 flood mark is the phrase “Ivan was here.”
Briley noted Schafer Leather has been a local business since 1867 and the company has been through many floods, large and small.
“For downtown businesses, the flooding is probably the one negative thing, but Front Street and Marietta is still a wonderful place to have a business,” she said.