Defiance Flood '09

NW Ohio has had a lot of rain since Sunday. I've dumped only a bit over 3.5" since Sunday. Defiance had almost that much last night. Findlay had over 3" Sunday and I don't know how much since then. They and Ottawa OH are flooded again -- big time. I drove down to Defiance to see what was goin on this AM. The usual places, houses and businesses were flooded.

I took this shot from the grounds of Fort Defiance. The river on the left is the Maumee coming from Fort Wayne IN. The Maumee meets up with Lake Erie in Toledo. The river to the right is the Auglaize. It drains much of Ohio south of Defiance. By the time it gets to Defiance, it is pretty large. A few yrs ago, the Auglaize was going into the Maumee so fast that it blocked off the flow of the Maumee from Fort Wayne causing flooding there. There is a term for that situation, but I don't remember what it is. Doesn't happen a lot.

On the far side of the Auglaize is Kingsbury Park. The baseball field is under several feet of water -- maybe you can see some of the light towers. Kingsbury floods frequently.

This photo was taken a bit south of the fort grounds. Check out the picnic shelters. You will have to excuse the branches. One of the Toledo TV stations was interviewing someone from the police department and I didn't think I should be breaking branches for a clear shot--if you know what I mean.

This is the back of the library. Sometimes they get water in their basement. They are well sandbagged and a local factory sent some employees over to move stuff out of the basement --just in case. The river was expected to crest sometime this afternoon. I think the library was safe this time.

I took this photo of the rivers in May of 2005 when things were a lot calmer. The Maumee going to Toledo is a National Scenic River. It is a great drive most anytime of year, but my favorite is the spring when all the Redbuds are in bloom.

I tried to get some shots of the power plant that is on the Auglaize south of Defiance, but the road was blocked off. Hard to believe that the water would be over that road.