PORTSMOUTH, Ohio — Residents along the Ohio River have been dealing with flooding this whole week.
The Second Street bridge has been closed for several days and streets have been flooded, preventing residents from getting to their homes. In Portsmouth, near the Ohio River, the gauge reached 56.09 feet.
This is over Flood Stage, which is around 50 feet, so the city of Portsmouth Flood Defense erected Flood Gate #4 to prevent any additional flooding.
The last time the flood gate was erected was in 2018 with the help of the National Guard.
According to Larry Mullins, the director of the Scioto Emergency Management, minor river flooding and the over-saturation of the ground caused a lot of issues.
"We had a snowpack. We had also the influence of a couple of remnants of hurricanes that went through here. So we have had a lot of moisture during the wintertime and it really hasn’t had a chance to drain out," Mullins said.
Some places in southern Ohio received three to four inches of rainfall in a short amount of time that lead to flash flooding.
The EMA and Portsmouth Flood Defense have to wait until the water levels reach 52.08 feet before moving Flood Gate #4. The National Weather Service forecasts that the Ohio River will reach normal levels by next week.
