“I’ve never seen the creek out like this,” said Jones, a West Carrollton man who was planning to spend just a couple days in the park.
Lisa D’Allessandris, director of the Clark County Emergency Management Agency, said between 20 and 30 people were evacuated throughout portions of the county during the flood.
And there could be more water on the way.
The National Weather Service said more storms are possible over the next couple of days that could bring 1 to 1½ inches of more rain each day, and a possibility of more flooding.
Along with the resort, D’Allessandris said there was flooding in the village of South Charleston and a section of U.S. 41 near the border of Springfield and Harmony townships.
Angie Martin said her daughter woke her up around 5:30 a.m., just as water began to seep into her home in the 5000 block of South Charleston Pike.
At first, she feared there was a fire, but she said the family was able to save some items in the home. By the time they evacuated, she guessed the water was about six inches deep in the house.
Martin said her home was also flooded just a few years ago, but this time she wasn’t sure where her family would go.
“Right now I’m standing in my driveway just trying to get my head together,” she said.
Shawn Rodman, an employee who works at the Beaver Valley Resort, said a little more than a dozen residents live year-round at the park. But in the summer, as many as a couple hundred park recreational vehicles and take a vacation.
On Wednesday, he was working to help determine how severe the damage was.
“I’ve seen where the creek has gotten high, but not this high,” Rodman said.
Denny Paul, fire chief for the Harmony Twp. Fire Department, said boats and a truck were used to help evacuate residents from the park.
He said his only concern was making sure residents were safely evacuated, although some were reluctant to leave their homes.
“Some were a little resistant but they finally understood,” Paul said.
Springfield Twp. and staff from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Watercraft also assisted at the scene.
Several other areas of the county were affected by high water as well.
The water was about 3 feet high on South Charleston Pike, witnesses told dispatchers. It forced officials to close Baldwin Lane at the railroad tracks and Vernon-Asbury and Vernon-Catawba roads.
On the west side of Clark County, Lower Valley Pike at Old Mill Road and Spangler Road were closed for a period of time Wednesday.
Mike Gallagher, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Wilmington, estimated the area was hit with one to three inches of rain.
Because the ground is already saturated from more than a month of wet weather, more significant rain could cause additional flooding, Gallagher said.
“It doesn’t have much place to go except into ditches and low-lying areas and into the rivers,” Gallagher said.
Marshall Gorby contributed to this story.
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