Buckeye Lake area hit with flooding after heavy rain
FAIRFIELD/LICKING COUNTY, Ohio (WCMH) — Thursday night's rain in Fairfield and Licking Counties caused flooding which some in the area spent most of Friday cleaning up from.
Rainwater made its way into the Buckeye Lake Fraternal Order of Eagles 2801 club.
“It was nuts, it was crazy, they called and said there was a little water coming in. I just live right down the street and I walked through the door and it's just a flood everywhere," said Sam McCauley, a trustee for the organization.
He said there was an inch and a half of water in parts of the building. Members and organization leaders used brooms and a shovel to push out as much water as they could.
“When I came back by this door it was like a river running underneath the door, you could see the water rushing in and moving the whole way through and that was every door," McCauley said.
There was also flooding at the nearby Sellers Point neighborhood in Millersport. Water got into a few homes there, according to Jon Cochis, Director of the Fairfield County Emergency Management Agency (FCEMA). Neighbors said some sewage also got in. Kochis said it's not uncommon for Sellers Point to flood, but he said it's usually from the lake or river, not four inches of rain in 70 minutes.
"That's pretty wild for any area but unfortunately for that area it already has a drainage issue just with the topography and everything, the infrastructure that's there," Kochis said. "In a short amount of time the precipitation was just really too much for that area to handle."
More rain is expected this weekend and the hope is that it's not as bad.
“I’m going after sandbags to put in front of the door so we try to keep it from coming in again. That's the only thing I can figure to do right now because there's nothing else we can do really, just try to hope for the best," McCauley said.
No one was hurt during the flooding, according to FCEMA. Kochis said there was one driver who needed to be helped when their car got stuck in high water.