Flood waters trap families in homes in Clark County

Thunderstorms dumped up to 4 inches of rain on Clark and Champaign counties overnight, flooding area streets and trapping dozens of residents inside their homes.

Emergency crews are now on the scene at the Beaver Valley Resort at 6725 E. National Road, where 20 people had been rescued from their trailers as of 9 a.m. Wednesday and two more are being brought out, said Harmony Twp. Fire Chief Denny Paul.

Water in the area is about 3 to 4 feet high and water has poured out of the banks of Buck Creek by 70 to 100 feet, Paul said.

"Water is rushing down the creek fast," Paul said.

Paul said Harmony Twp., Springfield Twp. Fire Department and the Clark County Water Craft Division are now on the scene and have rescued families using boats.

He said officials will likely keep residents out of their homes for two more hours until the water goes down.

"The water is going down fairly quickly, but we will probably keep people for another two hours to make sure it's safe to go back in," Paul said.

The water rescue on East National Road came after Clark County officials were called at 5:16 a.m. to the 5300 and 5400 blocks of South Charleston Pike to rescue a couple families who also were trapped in their home by high water.

The water was about 3 feet high on South Charleston Pike, witnesses told dispatchers, and high water forced officials to close Baldwin Lane at the railroad tracks and Vernon-Asbury and Vernon-Catawba roads.

The National Weather Service has issued a flood warning for Clark and Champaign counties until 10:15 a.m. Radar indicated that rainfall of 3 to 4 inches fell overnight on a line from Urbana to South Vienna, the weather service said.

Heavy rain and thunderstorms occurred in the region just after midnight and continued for more than two hours, leading to a lot of flooding, NWS Meteorologists Mike Gallagher said.

The storm was caused by a warm front that will continue to hover over Ohio for the next couple days, Gallagher said.

Residents can expect rain showers for the next couple days that will produce 1 to 1 1/2 inches of rain each, Gallagher said.

Check back for updates on this developing story.

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