Wow! A broken record!

In the 2005 flood, Atwood Lake set a record of 935.14 feet above sea level. As of the 9:30 AM readings today, Atwood is now at 935.55. I wish we could somehow get high aerial shots like the ones on Google Maps so that we can get a better idea as to how all the water is laying in different areas of the region. Water at Atwood is high. Water behind Dover...high. Water behind Bolivar, not so high. I know, I'm starting to sound like a conspiracy theorist sitting in my basement with a tin-foil hat on thinking the government, aka "The Man", is hiding something from us. I'm just concerned that this could have been better prevented with not so much flow out of Bolivar, but if there is a problem with Bolivar....well, another broken record.
Harrumph.

19 Action News is everywhere!

Before I get to the "fun" part of the day, here's a few quick updates:

• The Zoar Tavern was open tonight and busy! Good News! I would really hate to see that place go out because of the flood.
• The Tuscarawas Valley School District went ahead and canceled the make up classes that were scheduled for next week. The kids will have spring break as normal, but will have to make up all of these days at some point.
• Dover-Zoar Road was still open as of 8:00 PM tonight, but the water was starting to creep up on the road, so it will likely be shut down sometime overnight. Actually, I just checked on WTUZ's website and they are reporting that it is indeed shut down.
  
• An announcement went out earlier today alerting people that if the water around the Zoar and Bolivar Dams appears discolored, to not be alarmed. The ACOE is putting dye in the water behind the dams to locate the areas of seepage so that they can fix it.
• As of 5:30 tonight, the level behind Dover Dam is 903.8 ft above sea level. I wonder if we'll break the 2005 record of 907.35? Only time will tell.

With that out of the way, here is the clip where Denise and I were on WOIO. It's kinda cool seeing yourself on TV

Dover-Zoar Rd closing tonight

The Tuscarawas County EMA, aside from declaring the county under a disaster, activated the reverse 911 system again to let us know that Dover-Zoar Rd will be underwater by tonight. And I believe it. Before lunch we headed down to the bridge by I-77 and it was covered with water about half-way. Just now before coming home we stopped back down there, (approx 3 hours after being there earlier), and the entire bridge is underwater or has standing water on it. But, there are still routes out of Wilkshire Hills/Zoar. Aside from the newly constructed road to get over the Bolivar Dam, there is easy access to Rt 800 north of Mineral City by following the north leg of Dover-Zoar Rd. past Holy Trinity Church and keep going until you get there essentially. I do highly recommend staying off of Mineral City Zoar Rd unless you have a truck. It's getting pretty chewed up by all the traffic.
With continued access to the area slowly eroding away we noticed that Wendy's and The Zoar Tavern are closed. I hope this doesn't put the current owner of the Tavern out of business like what happened to the last owner with the last flood. As we were coming back from looking at the flooding on Towpath, we were waved down by a crew from Channel 19 and they ended up interviewing me. So it you're watching Channel 19 between the playoff games tonight, look for the fat man in a red coat with a Dale Jr hat on answering questions ;-) That's yours truly.
More updates later. Pictures are uploading to Flickr...as always.

I can't believe I missed this!

Thanks Zach Space for stepping up and getting the ball rolling!
From today's The Times Reporter:

In light of the flooding conditions in the Tuscarawas Valley, as well as eastern and southern Ohio, U.S. Rep. Zack Space, D-Dover, is calling on Gov. Ted Strickland to take swift action by declaring affected counties as disaster areas.

Space’s office noted Wednesday that representatives also have been in touch with the Army Corps of Engineers and Federal Emergency Management Agency pushing for a disaster designation, which would bring emergency assistance and funding to help recovery efforts in the Tuscarawas Valley.

“There is little doubt in my mind that we need disaster assistance, but that is unfortunately not my call to make,” Space said. “I am strongly encouraging Gov. Strickland to take the steps necessary to get disaster assistance to these affected areas.

“We all remember how vital disaster assistance was in the wake of the devastating 2005 floods,” Space said in a statement. “With entire communities being cut off by floodwaters, serious questions about the local infrastructure, and homes flooding, we need all the help we can get.”

Space and his staff have contacted local, state and federal authorities in an attempt to facilitate the disaster designation process.

A request from the governor, however, is necessary for FEMA to initiate action, he said.
In 2005, FEMA authorized $9.9 million in individual disaster assistance.

For more information, residents can call Muskingum Area Office of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers at (330) 343-3613 or (866) 502-2570 for those outside the Muskingum Watershed area.

– Office of Zack Space

Now if we could also do something about that burning landfill just north of the flood zone. Oh wait, that's probably best for another website. Life in Tuscarawas County is never dull...or even sometimes safe :-)

Time for an evening update

(More pics from tonights adventures on Flickr)

First off, welcome to all of you that have found your way here from MyFoxCleveland's website.

Didn't have a whole lot of time today to dig around for new information, actually had to do the day job thing. We did get a chance this evening to sneak out without the children to do a little exploring on our own. First stop was the I-77 interchange to see how much more the water has risen there. It's up for sure! It's very likely that by morning the bridge will be covered, at least on the far end by the canoe livery. Then we went over to Zoar to get a look at the Michael Lane area. In less then 24 hours, that road has completely covered with water and there is no possible way using a vehicle to get in or out of that area. Folks are parking in Zoar and walking over the levee and through the woods to get to their houses. That cannot be fun. One thing we also were able to check out is the water levels on Olde Orchard. Luckily, it does not look like that road will have water on them like last time so that escape route out should be clear if needed. We also went over to check the level behind the Bolivar Dam. Currently the gauge is saying 39 feet, up 3 ft from Sunday. They are still releasing water into the Tusk overflow. Still not sure why unless they are still worried about the dam.
Denise and I do want to give a couple of shout-outs:

• First, to the crew at the Bolivar McDonald's who had read the blog and stopped to say hi when they saw us out walking tonight. Denise had also learned from them that as long as they can get supplies in from other restaurants, they will remain open which is good because I will be needing my large, unsweetened Ice Tea.
• Next, to the Lawrence Township Trustee's for having enough foresight to build the "escape" route. The water is already on the lowest part of Glenpark this evening and it would be likely that that route would have been cut off by Saturday.
• Also, the Army Corps of Engineers (ACOE). Granted, I don't think that they are giving the whole story why we are getting flooded out again, but they are doing a tough and thankless job for all of us in this region.
  

That's it for now. Tomorrow is Good Friday and a day off so I will be out and about once again with more updates. Stay tuned!

I think we may have gotten lucky

(You guessed it, more pics on Flickr)

After taking a drive around the valley this afternoon looking at the floodwaters, I'm beginning to think that we may have dodged a big bullet with this flood. The water, while still high, isn't getting as bad so far as many had thought. On the noon radio report, they had said the area had not gotten the amount that had been forecast. So instead of the water cresting by mid next week, they are now looking for it to crest on Easter.
The water so far has only covered the northbound interchange at I-77 and all other roads to the outside world are passable. Rt. 800 near the Zoarville area does however look like it will go underwater by the end of the day. Luckily, the Suns been out and the wind is blowing at a pretty good clip, so hopefully it will help dry up some moisture before it rolls off into the Tusk and then on to the roads. Another thing we noticed is that it appears the ACOE is doing a REALLY good job getting what water that had made it into Zoar out of Zoar.
We'll likely go out for another lap later this afternoon to see if it's gotten any deeper.

Road Closed

It's official, St. Rt. 212 is closed at the I-77 northbound intersection. The intersection appears to be covered with water but there is yet no water on the bridge heading to it. We'll have to keep an eye on things during the day to see how high the water gets. So far, it appears to be somewhat okay for the most part.

So, you think the kids are going back to school anytime soon?

From our pals down at the Tuscarawas County Homeland Security & Emergency Management Agency, here is today's press release about the flood. Note the first sections where it says that the floodwaters are suppose to crest next week.

For Immediate Release Contact: Patty Levengood, Director
March 19, 2008 Phone: (330) 308‐6670
Water levels behind dams projected to crest next week Emergency officials were busy Wednesday morning (March 19) notifying residents and businesses about
rising water levels in northern Tuscarawas County. Early projections showed that floodwaters will crest sometime next week behind Beach City, Bolivar and Dover dams. By late Wednesday or Thursday (March 20), officials expect the village of Zoarville will be isolated for traffic and the I‐77 interchange at Rt. 212 at Wilkshire Hills will close.
Officials stressed that the Wilkshire Hills region is not expected to be isolated during the event and that Rt. 800 north of Mineral City also is expected to remain open through the crests. Tuscarawas County Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency (HS/EMA) officials were sending Reverse 911 telephone messages to residents and businesses in the village of Zoarville to inform them that the village will be isolated by Thursday (March 20). However, firefighters in the area have established a vehicle parking lot and walking path into the village of Tusky Valley Rd. near the railroad tracks. Firefighters encourage residents to move their vehicles to the parking area and use the walking path.
A Reverse 911 telephone message also was sent to residents and businesses in the Wilkshire Hills region to inform them that the region is expected to have access through the crests. Trustees in Fairfield, Lawrence and Sandy townships have been monitoring roads for safety and access.
An emergency connection between North Orchard Rd. (Tuscarawas County Rd. 103) and Glen Park Dr. (Lawrence Township Rd. 617) over Bolivar Dam to Gracemont and Sherman Church Rds. has opened. Trustees said they will maintain the connection road as needed. Patty Levengood, director of the Tuscarawas County HS/EMA, announced that her office would open the county’s Emergency Operations Center (EOC) at 1 p.m. Wednesday to assist officials and residents with information and other needs. The EOC will remain open 24 hours a day until the situation has improved.
The EOC can be contacted at (330) 308‐6655.
Downstream, increased water levels on the Tuscarawas River prompted New Philadelphia firefighters to issue door‐to‐door flood warning information to residents along 4th St. Ext. SE and Dogwood Ln. SE. Road closing information is available by calling the Tuscarawas County HS/EMA Emergency Information Line at (330) 339‐7838. Road closings also have been posted on the county sheriff’s website at
www.co.tuscarawas.oh.us/sheriff and other information will be posted as needed on the HS/EMA website at www.co.tuscarawas.oh.us/EMA.
Officials said updated information on water levels behind the area dams are available online by visiting the USACE website at www.lrh‐wc.usace.army.mil/wc/musns.htm or by using a link to that website off www.mwcdlakes.com.
Residents in the Michael Ln. area near Zoar were expected to be isolated by overnight Tuesday (March18) from the rising floodwaters behind Dover Dam.
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers officials said total rainfall overnight Tuesday was around 1 inch in the Bolivar area and less than an inch in the Stark County area, adding to the swollen reservoirs behind Atwood, Beach City, Bolivar and Atwood dams.
The USACE operates the flood‐reduction dams in the Muskingum River Watershed, including Dover, Bolivar, Beach City and Atwood dams.
Levengood said residents will be notified of any potential isolation issues through the county’s Reverse 911 communication system, in which telephone calls are placed to individual residences, businesses and other locations with official information and warnings.
END

Quick update

Denise and I just got back from doing a lap around the area. The road closed signs have already been delivered to the bridge area of St Rt 212 by the I-77 interchange on both sides. There really is no doubt that the river will flow over the bridge later tonight. We also noticed over on Towpath Rd by the Inn on The River that the river is almost covering Towpath right there at the low spot next to the Zoar Iron Bridge. When that occurred last time people were using the parking lot for Inn on The River as a thruway and the owner decided to charge folks a buck to go through. But after local media jumped on that story he stopped doing it and instead handed out coupons for free appetizers.

That's it for now. Stay tuned.

03/19/08 Evening Update

(Today's Pics on Flickr)

I'm going to start off tonights update with calling shenanigans on the Army Corp of Engineers. During the 4, 4:30 and 5 o'clock reports on WJER radio, they had reported that the ACOE had closed all of the dams except Dover to allow for the levels behind Dover to fall. But when we drove up to the Bolivar Dam, we were greeted to thisThe Bolivar Dam is still dumping water like crazy into the lake that once was the Tuscarawas River! Which again leads me to my earlier question....what is up with the Bolivar Dam! If there is a problem, I wish they would tell us their concerns. It that dam were to breech, we would by safe, but family and friends who live on the other side of the river would likely be in a lot of trouble. Another thing to note is the ground. As I walked down to the waters edge on the grass, I was sinking into the mud. The ground is so saturated that the inch plus rain that the region had experienced today is all going to easily run off and empty into the Tusk. Especially from the north. And not only is it rain, it's now snowing at a pretty good clip up north. Here, it's still drizzle for now.
For now, we are still planning on sitting tight on the Island and see what happens.

We broke 900!

As of 1:30 EST, we broke the 900 ft above sea level mark!
As for now, the rain appears to be easing off, but there is still plenty more off to the west.
And with the rising flood waters, there is also a rising of the rumor mill activity. Everything from Giant Eagle, (the only local grocery store on the island), will close to Rt 800 will close to this will be worse then 2005 have all been heard by either Denise or myself. My opinion is for everyone just to hang tight and lets just see what happens. We're off to get some pictures of the area, stay tuned for more updates later this evening!

Reverse 911 Calls

Guest correspondent Denise here. :)

We got a voice mail message today from the Sheriff's Dept. that St.Rte 212 is expected to close today earlier than expected, at the I-77 interchange. They were quick to point out that access is still open at Glenpark Rd. over the dam, and Old Orchard Rd. and St. Rte 800 thru Mineral City.

I just got an early vacation; my place of business closed indefinitely due to 212 going closed.

Lots of rumors flying around on how long the routes mentioned above will remain open. For now, we're treating them as such. Time will tell!

Still going

As of the 9:30 report from the COE, the river is still rising. Sharply by the looks of things

Cherry Hill evacuated!

WEWS is reporting that people living in the Cherry Hill area outside of Zoar have been evacuated! Denise and I had noticed earlier that there was a bunch of cars parked next to the Zoar Hotel earlier in the day. That must have been residents from Michael Lane getting out while there was time.

CLEVELAND -- Heavy rainfall and melting snow are combining to make the threat of flooding a very real concern across the state.

Flooding is already affecting some areas of northeast Ohio. The Tuscarawas County Sheriff said that state Route 212 at Route 800 west is closed because of flooding.

Residents on Michael Lane near 212 have been evacuated because the access road to the homes is in danger of flooding.

The fire department went door-to-door telling resident to leave. Because the access road is in danger of flooding, residents who had enough supplies were allowed to stay if they chose, officials said.

The sheriff said minor flooding is also a problem throughout the county. It has forced the Tuscarawas Valley School District to close for the past two days.

This is not the first time that residents have had to deal with flooding. Tuscarawas County experienced severe flooding in 2005.

Again, why have they been dumping so much water out from the Bolivar Dam?

Big updates for 3/18/07

(Full set of today's pictures available on Flickr)

First off, thanks for unlocking my blog, Blogger! Their robots were skimming through newly created blogs and thought mine was one of a spammer. Gasp! They finally figured it out that it's for real and allowed me to start updating again. Which is cool because there is a lot going on today.
First, the Tusky Valley school district is pretty much down until further notice. They've gone ahead and canceled classes for the rest of the week.
The water level on 212 may have gone up a couple of inches since yesterday, so it's not going anywhere anytime soon.
Next, the Lawrence Township services department have been busy all day building an escape road for residence of Wilkshire Hills to use if the 212 bridge to I77 goes underwater. The new road is just up from the Masonic Temple.
As of early this afternoon, trucks filled with stone from other townships were arriving to drop their loads and head back for more.
The Cleveland media has also arrived. Channels 3 and 5 were down here today interviewing folks. About time someone noticed!
Now the big news. The rain. It's pretty much held off all day but it is still heading our way with a vengeance. Once that hits, I have a feeling it won't be too long before access out of our area will be blocked going to I-77. The water is already touching the bottom of the bridge. Even the road people were out today removing the control box for the traffic light at the interchange of the off-on ramp closest to the river. Now it's a four way stop. All over town, there is definitely the feeling that something is going to happen and its going to match the fun of three years ago.
With all the flooding going on around Zoar causing the schools to be closed and the kids having to pay in the end, I have one question that will just not go away. Why in the world are they releasing so much water from the Bolivar dam to feed the rising waters behind the Dover Dam which is causing the roads to flood? We drove up to the Bolivar Dam again today and noticed that there is still a huge volume of water being ejected from the dam just as there has been for the past few days. They are allowing the levels behind Bolivar, which have not been bad at all, to drop and in doing so, sacrifice the major roadways in this part of the county. Doesn't make too much sense to me, unless there is a problem at the Bolivar Dam that they haven't told us....yet. Last time, there was a lot of concern about the Bolivar Dam eroding away, but they kept telling us that there was nothing to fear. Has it gotten worse, I wonder? Only time will tell, but by the looks of the radar, the heavy rain in almost here. We're in for a memorable Easter Weekend I think ;-)

Today's update from the TR

Well, at least they are beginning to realize that this isn't going away.
From today's The Times Reporter:

No relief in sight - Additional flooding likely
By LEE MORRISON lee.morrison@timesreporter.com


Keith McClintock of Keith’s Towing in Mineral City pulls a car from high water Monday on Rt. 212 as his father, Art McClintock, rides on the back of truck.

T-R/Jim Cummings


ZOAR – More rain in the forecast could mean isolation for residents of northern Tuscarawas County.

“The fear up here is that we’ll return to where we were three years ago – that we’ll be trapped with no way out,” said Rev. Floyd Stanfill of Faith Baptist Church at Wilkshire Hills and a resident of Zoar.

“It’s not that bad yet, but it looks like we’re going to lose use of the” bridge on Rt. 212 over the Tuscarawas River between I-77 and Wilkshire Hills. He said the water level has to rise less than 3 feet before it’s onto the bridge.

The county Homeland Security & Emergency Management Agency issued an alert Monday that said the predicted rainfall in the Tuscarawas Valley “could produce additional flooded roadways and possibly isolate residents” in the northern part of the county “over the next several days, particularly around Zoarville and the Michael Ln. area near Zoar.”

Director Patty Levengood said officials from throughout the county met Monday to discuss potential flooding and other issues. Forecasts call for up to 1.5 inches of rain today and up to another inch Wednesday.

County Engineer Joe Bachman said several roads prone to flooding behind Dover and Bolivar dams are closed. They are County Rds. 81, 86, 89, 105, 106, 107 and 109.

County Rd. 81, Canal Rd., was misidentified as Middle Run Rd. Sunday in a story that included a list of closed roads.

Ohio Department of Transportation personnel said Rt. 212 at Rt. 800 near Zoarville is restricted to one lane because of high water.

A motorist drove around high water warning signs on Rt. 212 near Rt. 800 at Zoarville Monday at 3:19 p.m. State troopers said water was half-way up the doors of the car. A tow truck pulled the car from the water. The driver was cited for driving on a closed roadway. Troopers had to go to the area several times throughout the night for reports of people disobeying the signs.

Levengood said staff will work closely with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which operates the dams, “and provide notification to communities and residents who may be isolated by flooding,” she said.

Nick Krupa, operations manager for the Muskingum Area of the Corps, said Monday night that the pool behind Dover Dam “has about leveled off, and Bolivar and Beach City have both started to fall. We’re not discharging any significant volume from Atwood or Leesville Dam until Dover is down.

“We’re at what we call alert pool at Atwood and Leesville. That involves reading the instrumentation in the dam more frequently and conducting more frequent inspections of the dam. It doesn’t indicate any problems with the dam itself.”

He also said that while many people want him to say how high the water will go, “we really can’t make any accurate predictions until we see how much rainfall has fallen and where and that it has stopped.”

Trustees in Fairfield, Lawrence and Sandy townships are monitoring roads, Levengood said.

Lawrence Township trustees were working Monday on opening an emergency connection between N. Orchard Rd. and Glen Park Dr. over Bolivar Dam to Gracemont Rd. Corps officials said Rt. 800 north of Mineral City is expected to remain open with the current forecast.

Lawrence Township Trustee Don Ackerman said work began on Glen Park Dr. last week with digging out stumps. Monday morning work started on cutting the road in. Today, trucks from the township, other townships and the county are expected to haul stone for the road.

“Depending on the rain, we hope to have it in place this week,” he said. “It should be passable, with probably two lanes. The people won’t be stranded. The Glen Park Dr. relocation shouldn’t be needed for awhile, but we want to have it in place if it’s needed.”

Ackerman based his comments on anticipation that Rt. 800 north of Mineral City and County Rd. 82 aren’t expected to close as they did in January 2005.

“A lot of people don’t understand that last time there wasn’t a back road, county road or any road out of here,” Stanfill said. “There were 6,000 people trapped.”

Stanfill remembers that during that flood he helped get medicine or sump pumps to those in need.

“That’s why it’s more real to me,” he said. “I literally walked up and down hills to get things to people the last time.”

Stanfill noted that trustees were working on the emergency exit road.

“If we would have had that the last time, people wouldn’t have been trapped like that,” he said. “The access road that they’re cutting won’t solve the school problem, but it will allow people to get to their jobs. I’m really thankful the trustees are putting that road in.”

He was referring to Tuscarawas Valley Local Schools District being closed Monday. Superintendent Mark Murphy said there are at least seven roads that are impassable or closed in the district. School personnel said Monday night that school will be closed until further notification.

Stanfill’s main criticism: “It’s surprising how little news we hear until it actually happens. Once it happens, then you find out.”

No school again plus the quote of the day!

WTUZ's news department interviewed Nick Krupa, Muskingum Operations Manger and he gave the following quote:

Krupa says area dams are holding up pretty well, at this point, and says some repairs were recently made to the Dover Dam.

At this point!? Oh well. Only time will tell.

In other news, the school district canceled classes again for tomorrow.

24 hours of change

If you remember yesterday's posts, I had mentioned that the road by the school had closed due to the high water:
Now today, I went and took a look at the kids school district website and saw this photo:
If you look at the guardrail down by the stop sign, you can see that the water is touching the bottom of it today compared to the first picture from roughly 24 hours or so earlier. This is not looking good for the kids who have now lost another day of spring break next week.
As for the weather forecast for the next couple of days, that too is not looking all that great. 1-3 inches of rain around the area as a whole. And all that water has to go somewhere.
As of the 1:30 report, the water level is 899.18. Slowing a little, but not going down yet.

The earlier reports were true

As of the 9:30 AM reports on the Corp of Engineer's website, the water level is still going up! At 9:30 AM the water level behind the Dover Dam is reported to be 899.09 ft above sea level. That's just 8.26 feet away from breaking the record! So far no word yet if the kids will have school tomorrow. I highly doubt that they will. I am hoping to get out with the camera after I get home from work to get some new pictures and give some more eyewitness reports. Stay tuned!

Some new news

The Times Reporter is reporting that the water should crest today. That's good news, but we still have the rest of the week to deal with.

Thaw, rain put strain on rivers - Forecast offers little relief
By KATIE ALBERTI katie.alberti@timesreporter.com

Don’t expect water levels to go down anytime soon.

Nick Krupa, operations manager for the Muskingum Area of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, said that’s what residents should be prepared for considering Mother Nature will be bringing more rain to the area later this week.

Although he expected the lake behind Dover Dam to crest Sunday, it did not. However, he does expect cresting today at about noon.

“It’s supposed to level off tomorrow, but it looks like a storm will be there Wednesday, Thursday and Friday bringing a total of 2.5 inches (of rain),” Krupa said Sunday night.

“If we get that, we won’t have any opportunity for the lake to lower. It should just level off a little tomorrow and start back up,” he added.

The National Weather Service at Pittsburgh reports a chance of rain Tuesday through Thursday.

The rising water already has closed several roads throughout the county, the latest being Rt. 212 between Zoar and Rt. 800, according to the Ohio Department of Transportation. Officials said they anticipate the road to remain closed for several days because of rain in the forecast.

The rising water levels in the Zoar-Bolivar area already have officials concerned, although Krupa said water at the Bolivar Dam won’t get as high as it did in 2005 when the entire area was flooded.

Those who are concerned about water levels can get up-to-date information by visiting the Muskingum Basin’s Web site at www.lrh-wc.usace.army.mil/wc/musns.htm, Krupa said. By clicking on a project, viewers can see the levels. Any marked in red signify flooding