Breaking News
Local News

Rain hits the area and will impact the Waterford fair

By Brett Dunlap 5 min read

PARKERSBURG - The area experienced heavy rains throughout the day on Tuesday with high water in some areas and impacting the upcoming Waterford Community Fair.

Since just after midnight Tuesday morning, the National Weather Service in Charleston was reporting the Parkersburg area receiving around three inches of rain, said meteorologist Megan Kiebler.

There were some storms that were being watched throughout Tuesday around the Columbus area that could have reached the local area, but she said there was a possibility that they might miss the Parkersburg area.

"It will depend on the direction these storms are going," Kiebler said. "(As of 2:30 p.m. Tuesday), they are taking a southeastward course towards Athens, Ohio and onward down to Point Pleasant.

"With those storms we are watching for damaging winds and potential for some tornadoes (Tuesday afternoon) alongside some (heavy) rain," "This kind of activity is expected to persist into the next several days (in the Ohio River Valley)."

The weather service is reporting a flood watch for the area through Friday morning.

"Excessive runoff may result in flooding of rivers, creeks, streams, and other low-lying and flood-prone locations," the warning said. "Creeks and streams may rise out of their banks.

"Rounds of thunderstorms will track through the area, bringing the potential for heavy downpours and training storms, which may cause flooding."

There is a chance of rain throughout the day today and increasing into this evening. Showers are also likely Thursday after 2 p.m. and into the evening. There is a 50 percent chance of rain throughout the day on Friday Sunny conditions are expected Saturday with a high in the low 80s. There will be a 40 percent chance on storms again on Sunday with a high of 87.

"It looks like we might dry out at the beginning of the weekend, but we could return to an active state by Sunday," Kiebler said. "We are not see much of a reprieve over the next seven days."

As far as how much rain the area might get, she said it depends on how winds might drive rain into the area as well as storm systems that develop around the Chicago area to determine if they will eventually hit the local area.

"They will then drive through Indiana, Ohio and into West Virginia," Kiebler said adding rain could be on and off over the next few days.

A supervisor at the Wood County 911 Center said they had mostly reports of downed tree branches and downed power lines resulting from Tuesday's rains.

As of 3:45 p.m. Tuesday, MonPower was reporting sporadic outages around the area in the Boaz area, north Parkersburg, Woodland Park, Washington and Lubeck areas with less than 20 customers affected in each area, according to the outage map from MonPower.

High water was reported in the Parkview Drive area of Parkersburg.

Parkersburg firefighters got a stranded motorist out of their van after it became stuck in high water on Riverview Drive. Parkersburg Fire Chief Jason Matthews said firefighters drove an engine that sits higher over to the vehicle, got the individual out of the van, then backed the fire engine out of the water.

Other areas around the area reported having high water, including the Glendale Extension in Marietta and in the Barlow area, according to posts on Facebook. A dispatcher with the Marietta Police Department said high water was reported on Hart Street in Marietta.

Washington County Sheriff Mark Warden said people can also keep apprised of high water on their website at https://www.washingtoncountysheriff.org/

"Creeks can rise quick when the water comes off the hills," he said. The dispatchers will put it on the website when we start seeing it."

The rain that has fallen and the rain forecast for the next few days could impact the Waterford Community Fair.

Officials were meeting Tuesday afternoon to discuss what they are are planning to do about the fair which is scheduled for this week.

In a Facebook post made Tuesday under the heading of "A Difficult Announcement," officials decided to cancel their Annual Exhibitor Feast & Square Dance.

"We are incredibly disappointed that Mother Nature has not cooperated with us this year," the post said. "With the weather conditions and the amount of rain we have received, we feel this is the best decision for the safety and well-being of our exhibitors, families, volunteers and community.

"This is always such a special evening for us--a chance to come together, celebrate our exhibitors, share a meal and enjoy some good old-fashioned dancing. We hate that we won't get to do that this year."

Officials will continue to monitor the weather, ground conditions and will make announcements and schedule changes as needed. As the fair relies on its neighbors for parking, officials wanted to be sure they maintain those lands the best they can.

"We also want to let everyone know that there will be no Tug Pull on Thursday night," according to the post. "With the current conditions, we need to be considerate of our neighbors and mindful of the parking challenges that the weather has created.

"We appreciate everyone's understanding as we work to protect our Fairgrounds and be good neighbors to our community."

Fair Board member Missy Antill said plans are still in place for the fair to do its Hog Weigh-Ins this evening starting at 5 p.m. Due to the amount of work done by local kids in getting the hogs ready to show, she said officials are still planning to go forward with the Market Hog Show at 8 a.m. on Friday and the Hog Sale at 10 a.m. on Saturday.

"Those will definitely go on," she said. "We will continue to watch the weather and make decisions as needed."

City Editor Evan Bevins contributed to this story.

Starting at /week.