Heavy rains turn roads to rivers, lawns to lakes

Heavy rains have turned some roads into rivers and some yards and fields into lakes in Wood County.

Overnight Tuesday into Wednesday morning, areas of the county got 2 to 2.25 inches of rain. That came after Monday’s dowsing of 3 to 3.5 inches of rain in the county, according to Wood County Emergency Management Agency Director Brad Gilbert.

“We are very, very wet,” Gilbert said Wednesday morning. “There’s a lot of water standing in the fields. Ditches and streams are at or near capacity.”

The Portage and Maumee rivers are experiencing some limited flooding. The levels were headed downward late this morning, but Gilbert expected them to rise again with more rain predicted.

Bowling Green and Perrysburg had some street flooding, and power outages were reported in northern Wood County.

The Buckeye Phone System experienced problems, leading to the county offices and sheriff’s office to be without phone service this morning. The emergency 911 system remained in service, Gilbert said.

Gilbert said he had been in contact with the American Red Cross, just in case there are any emergency needs.

“These nice little dry periods in between are helping out a little bit,” he said. “But we’re still looking at a potential of 2 to 3 more inches of rain.”