The torrential rain and resulting flooding Thursday evening in several Ohio County and Marshall County communities showed just how tenuous our situation is right now. Homes in Wheeling that haven’t seen water in basements for two decades were flooded. The Elm Terrace Shopping Center turned into a muddy mess. Sections of 29th Street in Wheeling — not far from Mount Zion Cemetery, which itself was damaged last year by heavy rainfall — were impassable Thursday evening.

It’s been hard not to notice over the past few years that when we have rainfall, it often turns into a damaging storm. That causes creeks to rise and debris — trees, garbage — to flow into creeks, which means the next time it rains, there are more potential obstructions. Perhaps, over the next few weeks, a real assessment as to the state of our local creeks and runs needs to be taken.

At some point, there needs to be an understanding as to whether there is anything that can be done to help alleviate this issue. Do we need a community clean-up event to ensure trash and debris don’t lead to flooding? Do we need a better dredging program for our creeks? This issue is too important to ignore.