Trending
PARKERSBURG -- As the Mid-Ohio Valley was recovering from one of the worst floods in over a decade, heavy rains and thunderstorms moved through the area Thursday which caused some schools to dismiss early and could bring the Muskingum River in Washington County back up to flood stage over the weekend.
A tornado watch, along with a flood watch, was issued for most of southeast Ohio and western West Virginia from 4:05 p.m. to 9 p.m. Thursday as the storm system moved through the valley.
A release from Jackson County Schools on their social media page said they were dismissing students two-and-a-half hours early due to severe weather entering the region. It said according to the National Weather Service briefing at 10 a.m. Thursday, tornado warnings, large-size hail, and heavy winds have been predicted and that all buses will arrive at their stops two-and-a-half hours early.
The National Weather Service out of Charleston issued a forecast for overnight showers and thunderstorms, mainly after 3 a.m., for Thursday with winds that could be as high as 32 mph. It said new rainfall amounts could measure between a quarter and half of an inch.
They forecasted the Muskingum River reaching 29 ft., flood stage, by 3 p.m. today but receding to 28.7 ft. by Saturday morning.
The Ohio River isn't predicted to reach flood stage again as it is forecasted to rise to 29.2 ft. by Sunday at 3 p.m.
Today's forecast is showers and possibly a thunderstorm after 1 p.m. with new rainfall amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch, with higher amounts possible with thunderstorms.
The Wood County 911 Center said they had not received any calls about the new weather system moving through Thursday afternoon but Wood County 911 Director Mike Shook said Thursday morning that he'd received 150 cleanup kits from the state in the wake of last week's flooding and had distributed about half of them.
Douglass Huxley can be reached at dhuxley@newsandsentinel.com