Thursday morning found this North Central School District (Pioneer, Ohio) bus stuck in flood waters.
Traveling throughout Northwest Ohio continued to be a challenge on Thursday as snowmelt combined with heavy rains have overflowed local rivers and streams.
According to area officials, the demand for high water signs has exceeded availability, leaving water covered roadways unmarked, especially county roads. Please continue to use extreme caution when traveling.
Newspaper archives remind us that many lives have been lost locally over the years from accidents caused by water across area roadways, especially at night when water stretching across roads often cannot be seen until its too late to slow down properly.
Road closures are throughout the area, two key routes include State Route 20A east of West Unity/north of Archbold (detour starting in West Unity) and US 20 just west of Pioneer.
River and creek Flood WARNINGS are in effect for the area according to the National Weather Service.
Have a flooding photo to share? Please email pictures to publisher@thevillagereporter.com
Forrest R. Church may be reached at publisher@thevillagereporter.com
Publisher’s Commentary / Note / Opinion – Be safe folks, I came home from Angola last night and had water up to the bumper of my truck on US 20 about 1.5 miles west of the State Route 15 & US 20 intersection. They have since closed US 20 completely in both directions causing a ton of traffic backup.
I cannot stress enough not to ignore water across roadways. I recall several years ago putting a warning out on the facebook newspaper page after driving across our coverage area with similar flooding. That night we received a fax from the State Highway Patrol of a fatal accident outside of Archbold concerning someone getting off work and hitting high water on a rural county road (going too fast). This still bothers me, not sure what else we could have done to warn folks, but every time there is flooding it is on the forefront of my mind.
Take the extra five minutes and slow down or find another route!