Serving Lucas, Ottawa, Sandusky and Wood Counties
Jerusalem Township suffered historic flooding overnight July 5 into the following morning, and local officials are working to make sure the recovery is as quick as possible.
The Press spoke with township trustee Alex Lytten on July 8, which is one day before going to print, and he said they’re still working to get the water pumped out of the township and to the lake.
“A lot of the rainwater was upstream, sort of towards the Route 2 and Brown Road areas, and those areas are draining, but it was raising water levels closer to the lake, so the water is kind of moving across the township,” he said. “We're at a point right now where everything's starting to drain pretty good. There's still a couple of low spots that'll need to be manually pumped, but we're definitely doing better than that first day and are very thankful than it wasn’t worse than what occurred.”
Lucas County Engineer Mike Pniewski said in a Facebook video post that the area received about a “3,000-year rainfall.”
“That means it has a one in 3,000 chance of occurring in any given year,” he said. “It’s pretty rare any time you mention it. We've been told by a lot of long-time residents that the last time this happened was in the late 1960s.”
Pniewski said the storm was made worse because of a northeast wind that moved Lake Erie about four feet higher than normal, which is called the Seiche effect.
“It’s something that happens here in Lake Erie every so often,” he said. “You get a strong sustained northeast wind and then water will move up like in a bathtub and then slosh back and forth until it goes back down after a couple of days. It's currently receding right now, and the water in the ditches is currently receding as well.
“Our staff and the township are here for our residents, and we're here to help you. We're here to help you through the recovery, and it will be the way things are looking around here. Unfortunately, it will probably be a long one. But know that we're with you and that we're going to do the best we can, and the people of Jerusalem Township are strong, and they'll get through this just like they did over 60 years ago.”
On July 8, Pniewski’s office announced that the intersection of Brown Road and N. Martin Williston Road would be closed for the ensuing 14 days. During the closure, the detour route will be Cousino Road to Jerusalem Road/State Route 2, Jerusalem Road/State Route 2 to S. Decant Road and S. Decant Road to Brown Road.
Furthermore, shortly thereafter, Pniewski announced the closure of Yondota Road between Seaman Road and Route 2. If you’re coming from Route 2, you’ll be able to turn around at the pump. If you’re coming from Seaman, you’ll be able to turn around at Sacks Road.
That information was current as of July 8. Any questions can be directed to the Lucas County Engineer’s Office at 419-213-2860.
While he said the township is doing alright, Lytten said there are still some challenges moving forward.
“The water is receding,” he said. “There's still a few homes underwater right now, still some folks that are going to need some assistance moving forward. And some residents are going to need assistance going forward into the coming weeks because they're going to have to deal with insurance claims, housing and different types of things like that. The residents of Jerusalem Township are very resilient, but there are still a few challenges we’re working through.”
Additionally, Lytten said that residents can also contact the township’s trustees for help.
“What is going to be important is that if residents have damage and issues moving forward, if they're struggling to figure out how to file their insurance claims or where to get state assistance from, things of that nature, they should definitely reach out to the Jerusalem Township trustees. We’ll do our best, along with the fire department, to work with them and get those folks some assistance.”
Meanwhile, WTOL meteorologist Chris Vickers posted on Facebook that Kelleys Island received between 15 and 17.5 inches of rain in as little as six hours overnight July 5 into the next morning. The information came from both Doppler radar estimates and several weather stations, and he said there has never been such a rainfall record in Ohio.
Vickers said it was the second massive rainfall that struck Lake Erie’s islands in the past three years, which he described as one in 1,000-year events. On Aug. 23-24 of 2023, there was an estimated eight to 13 inches of rainfall at Put-in-Bay and South Bass Island.
Further, he said that amount of rain has a 0.1 percent chance of happening any given year, and it’s now happened twice in three years. A warmer environment and changing climate is a major and critical contributing factor to these events, Vickers said.
On the morning of July 5, the Lake Erie western basin was over 4°F above average. Buoys around the Lake Erie island and western Lake Erie registered balmy tropical water temperatures of 79-84.8°. Vickers said, for comparison’s sake only, that level of warmth in the water (81° or warmer) is sufficient for tropical cyclone formation in the ocean.
“A much warmer lake is the source of moisture feeding these historical and unprecedented rain events,” Vickers said. “It is imperative we take note before disaster strikes again.”
The state’s all-time record for 24-hour rainfall is 10.75 inches on Aug. 7-8, 1995, in Shelby County. Both events in the past three years would shatter that, but they have yet to be or may never be verified, Vickers said, because of a lack of official National Weather Service (NWS) reporting stations.
