A massive storm Aug. 23 and 24 over Lorain County sent tree branches flying and power lines falling and flooded streets forced several schools to close.
The storm dropped over 6 inches of rain in the Lorain and Elyria area, according to WOIO Channel 19 meteorologist Jeff Tanchak.
Tanchak called the storm a “textbook Ring of Fire” event on social media the morning of Aug. 24.
With a large heat dome west of Ohio, the storm was able to sustain itself, he said.
Fellow Channel 19 meteorologist Erika Paige said there could be more on the way.
“Today, especially, we’re not done with the flooding threat,” Paige said. “Especially for some of our western communities.
“As much as I would love to say the rain threat is over, I’m really still concerned that we’re going to see another round of showers and storms. These could potentially bring severe weather tonight, too.”
While relatively infrequent, the “Ring of Fire” system can create a literal perfect storm, Paige said.
She noted that the sheer amount of rainfall across Lorain County was surprising, but not unheard of.
“It is pretty rare; this isn’t your typical setup,” Paige said. “When you have this much moisture in such a short amount of time, we’re going to have a lot of issues with flooding.
“I just think it was the perfect combination of systems coming together.”
Paige cited the jet stream that has been sitting above northern Ohio for most of the summer as well as an active Gulf of Mexico for the heavy rains.
“A lot of what we’re seeing, is the redevelopment of these showers and thunderstorms,” she said. “It eventually shifts all that activity our direction, and it’s why we’ve seen such a big active weather pattern.
“It doesn’t help that the Gulf of Mexico has been giving us a lot more moisture as well.”
Amherst Mayor Mark Costilow called the storm an extreme weather rarity.
Costilow said even his longest-tenured service and utility workers have never seen anything like this.
“In the 20 years most of our service personnel have been involved … by memory, last 20 years, we’ve never had that much rain,” he said. “It was just under, by a 10th of an inch, of six inches.”
Costilow said Amherst crews were out all night responding to various resident calls.
Now, the city is checking on residents who might be in need, but have not called the city, he said.
“They worked off and on through the night as we had issues and we had calls,” Costilow said. “We’re through most of those.
“We’re actually going to areas where we think there could be issues and actually knocking on a few doors just to make sure people have what they need.”
Despite the heavy rains, most residents already are beginning to clean out flooded areas out of their houses, according to Costilow.
“A lot of people are doing what they need to do,” he said. “A lot of this isn’t necessarily on the city end and infrastructure, it’s just more rain than all of us can handle.
“I hate that we’re going through this, but Mother Nature really beat us down on this one. But residents are hanging in there.”
Amherst Police Department also announced that North Main Street would be closed until further notice between Cooper Foster Park and Jaeger roads.
A few school districts around the area closed Aug. 24, citing inclement weather.
Both Vermilion Local Schools and Huron County’s Western Reserve Schools noted that road conditions were unsafe for students and school bus drivers.
Longfellow Middle School, 305 Louisiana Ave. in Lorain, was closed due to no power.
According to FirstEnergy Storm Center, 3,779 customers in Lorain County were without power at 4 p.m., Aug. 24.
Avon’s power was to be restored at 6 p.m., followed by Avon Lake at 6:30 p.m.
The rest of the county is scheduled to have power back by 11 p.m., Aug. 25, the storm center said.
This report was updated at 4:03 p.m. on Aug. 24 to add estimates of when power would be back on for FirstEnergy customers across Lorain County.
