DaytonDailyNews.com

Heavy rains are reminding the Miami Valley of the upcoming 95th anniversary of the Great Flood of 1913.

Through 4 p.m. Wednesday, March 19, 5.47 inches of rain had fallen for the month — nearly triple the average of 1.89 inches that falls during the first 19 days of March, according to the National Weather Service.

Tuesday, 1.65 inches fell, breaking the one-day record for March 18 of 1.59 inches set in 1933.

The Dayton-area chapter of the American Red Cross provided hotel vouchers for eight people who were flooded out of their apartments on Flowerdale Avenue in Kettering.

Jeff Kurzman of the Red Cross said the agency also was assisting a family in Preble County whose basement apartment filled with water.

"I'm sure we'll get more calls as people get home from work," he said.

In Butler County, two shelters were opened to house families displaced by flooding. Seven families were displaced from a flooded apartment complex in Hamilton, while at least half a dozen were evacuated from a mobile home park in West Chester Twp., county Emergency Management Director William Turner said.

Heavy rains swelled the region's rivers and streams.

Late Wednesday afternoon, the weather service continued flood warnings for the Great Miami River at Sidney until Friday and below Miamisburg until late tonight. Flood warnings for the Mad River at Springfield and the Great Miami River at Hamilton were to have expired Wednesday night.

In Greene County, high water Wednesday forced the closing of more than a dozen roads. Montgomery County also had a handful of roads closed. Preble County reported one road closed, while four were closed in Miami County.

Mostly sunny skies and a high temperature of 44 were forecast for Thursday.

The Great Miami River at Dayton was at a stage of 30.97 feet at noon Wednesday and rising, according to the Miami Conservancy District. In Hamilton, which has had the most precipitation regionally, the river stage at noon was 75.07 feet.

Normally at this time of year, the river at Dayton and Hamilton are at stage readings of 26.98 and 64.61 feet, respectively, according to the district. So the river was about 4 feet above normal at Dayton for this time of year and 10.5 feet above normal at Hamilton.

"While we have gotten a good bit of rain in the last 24 hours or so, it's important to remember that the MCD-protected areas can handle the rains of the 1913 flood – 11 inches of rain over three days across the entire watershed – plus another 40 percent," said Mike Ekberg, district manager of water resources.

The storms that caused the Great Dayton Flood began on March 21, 1913.