Event narrative (NOAA)
Thunderstorms dumped torrential rains on Lorain County during the early morning hours of May 21st resulting in the worst flooding seen in the county since 1969. The southern portion of the county and especially the Wellington, Oberlin and Lagrange areas were very hard hit. Heavy rain between 2 and 5 a.m. caused the west branch of the Black River and it's tributaries to leave their banks. Rainfall rates were in excess of two inches per hour during the peak of the storm. Just over five inches of rain was measured at the water treatment plant in Lagrange with numerous three inch reports received from both the Wellington and Oberlin areas. Bucket surveys from the area indicate that as much as six inches of rain may have fallen in some parts of the county. This rainfall combined with gro
Other notable flash flood events in Ohio
Source: NOAA/NCEI Storm Events Database. Deaths and injuries are those NOAA classifies as direct. Damage is the reporting office's estimate at the time and is not inflation-adjusted. This is a catalogue record, not a forecast.