Scioto River Expected To Flood In Circleville, Prospect

Central Ohio is expected to get one to three inches of rain during the next few days. Some areas can expect some flooding as local rivers crest later this week. Circleville and Darbyville, both south of Columbus, are expected to experience minor flooding as the Scioto River and Big Darby Creek reach flood stage late Thursday night and into Friday morning. Prospect, north of Columbus, is expected to experience moderate flooding. National Weather Service meteorologist Mike Kurz said Columbus is out of the woods, but the Scioto River in the area is in "action" stage. "It's just when some local authorities needs like a heads up that the river is rising to a certain point. The Columbus point isn't expected to reach the flood stage. Flood stage is 24 feet and it will fall well below that, only reaching about 18 feet for the current forecast. So, not expecting any flooding, significant flooding in the Columbus area," Kurz said. David Meadows speaks for the Army Corps of Engineers in Huntington, W.Va. He said water from the Delaware Reservoir is released almost every day into other systems like the Scioto River as part of its water management. But Meadows said officials could cut back if flooding gets too severe. "A lot of it is timing. We're looking at the timing of the rain as it goes down the river. So hopefully our flows from Delaware comes right in on the tail end of those higher flows currently occurring down on the Scioto right now. And like I said, all those other reservoirs Deer Creek, Paint Creek, Alum Creek, and as we need to we'll be cut back our operations on those," Meadows said. Meadows does not expect Alum Creek to flood. Central Ohio could set a new rainfall record for April. This month, nearly 6 1/2 inches of rain fallen. The record, set in 1893, is just above 7 inches.