FINDLAY — Butch Nill waded through the swamp that was once his backyard in search of garbage.
Another one of the region’s torrential downpours — this one before dawn on Thursday — once again raised the Blanchard River in Findlay to historic levels. Residents like Mr. Nill, well-accustomed to clearing flood damage, waited Friday for the brown water to recede from their yards and basements.
Meanwhile, Mr. Nill has retrieved buckets, beer cans, and a car tire that washed up to his Grand Avenue home.
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“If they never experienced a flood, come on down and check it out. It’s not very fun,” said Mr. Nill, 45.
The Blanchard crested about noon Friday at 16.53 feet, several feet above the “major” flood level of 13.5 feet. By 10 a.m. Saturday, the National Weather Service reported the Blanchard had receded to 13.77 feet, but the river was expected to remain in flood condition until Sunday.
Downriver in Ottawa, Ohio, the Blanchard had reached 27.52 feet by 10:30 a.m. Saturday, well past the 23.0-foot flood stage it first passed Thursday. It was expected to crest at about that mark some time Saturday, causing significant flooding on Ottawa’s south side.
Preliminary results register this week’s flood as the fifth-highest crest in Findlay’s history. In 2007, the river reached 18.46 feet, just short of the record set in 1913.
Additional flooding was reported at Eagle Creek, which flows into the Blanchard, and the Portage River in Wood and Sandusky counties. The latter was expected to affect houses in Pemberville and low-lying areas around Woodville.
As of Friday, the National Weather Service maintained flood warnings for the Blanchard, Portage, and several other rivers as well as a general warning for all of Hancock and Sandusky counties and southern Wood County for flood conditions on numerous creeks and streams.
The Portage River in Woodville was forecast to crest overnight about 4.5 feet above its 9-foot flood stage there, then gradually recede. It was forecast to fall back to within its banks Sunday afternoon, although by then forecasters expect a new chance for thunderstorms in the region after a dry day Saturday.
The Sandusky River was expected to retreat below flood stage near Fremont late Friday, but crest about 1.5 feet over flood stage in Tiffin overnight and remain flooded there until Saturday evening.
Minor flooding also continued along the Tiffin River in Fulton, Williams, and Defiance counties. The Tiffin was forecast to fall below its 11-foot flood stage in Stryker early Sunday after a crest Friday evening about 2 feet above flood stage.
The creek-and-stream warning was set to expire at 4:15 p.m. Saturday.
The Ohio Department of Transportation reported Friday that U.S. 224 remained closed in both Findlay and Ottawa, along with parts of State Rts. 12, 235, and 568 in Hancock County and State Rt. 65 in Ottawa.
Noah King, 34, was one of many in flood-prone Findlay who carried a resilient attitude toward the latest event. He spent much of the afternoon paddling on a boat through waist-deep water.
Family members dubbed his yard “Noah’s Pond.”
“People get mad about it. We lost a lot of money and a lot of stuff, but you can bring the kids out and have some fun,” Mr. King said.
Residents gathered during the day along the Main Street bridge downtown to watch the river rising. Surface water split the downtown and closed roads across the Findlay.
Todd McCracken, 49, spent the past few days helping load several hundred sandbags at his father’s properties along the river. They have pumps ready to go as well.
“Each one’s a learning experience, and it’s a lot of work, but we deal with it,” he said.
Mechanics also continued working at Fornes Complete Auto and Truck Service as large pools extended to the shop’s edge. Greg Smith, 42, of Tiffin said the massive flood a decade ago dumped 8 inches of water on their main floor.
“If water does come in here, when it’s over with, we'll pressure wash it out,” he said.
This was the first city flood for Chauncey Bridges, 20, who will be a senior at the University of Findlay. He's already been called off work three times at Knollcrest Cemetery in nearby Arcadia.
“It just makes you want to go back inside, go lay down, and watch TV. There’s nothing really you can do,” said Mr. Bridges of Farmington Hills, Mich.
Contact Ryan Dunn at: rdunn@theblade.com, 419-724-6095, or on Twitter @rdunnblade.
First Published July 14, 2017, 12:05 p.m.