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Preventing Flash Floods in Area

A number of Ohio County residents may be wondering what, exactly, Mother Nature has against them. First came COVID-19. Then, on Saturday night, the heavens opened and the rain came down in buckets. Flashing flooding resulted.

Scores of homes in Wheeling and Triadelphia were affected, both by Wheeling Creek and streams that feed into it.

In Wheeling, part of the problem was that storm sewers simply could not keep up with the water. That is a perennial problem, but an expensive one to remedy.

Elsewhere, some residents blamed debris in streams. “A lot of debris from the creek, it just backed up and flooded our people,” explained Triadelphia Mayor Kenneth Murphy.

That, too, is an ongoing concern in both the Northern Panhandle and East Ohio.

As we have pointed out, it seems that initiatives to clear debris out of stream beds are viewed more as make-work opportunities for government jobs programs than as an ongoing disaster-prevention campaign. Every few years, crews paid with state or federal money sweep a few stream beds and, for a time, they are clear.

But Mother Nature is no respecter of bureaucratic schedules. Within a few years after a stream bed is cleared, new debris washes down it, becoming a threat during heavy rain.

In areas such as ours where flash flooding is common, regular removal of tree branches, large rocks and yes, trash dumped by humans needs to be scheduled. State and federal disaster relief agencies should view that as a preventive measure that, in the long run, could save money.

NEWSLETTER

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