McCoy: June rainfall a record for county

VW independent/VW EMA information

What began as a nice start to spring for area farmers has turned into a complete disaster, with substantial loss of crops across the county, said Van Wert County Emergency Management Director Rick McCoy. Flooding rains throughout the month of June has caused thousands of acres across the county to remain bare, with no chance of planting at this point. And for the crops that are in the ground, many plants have died from the excessive water, while many surviving fields may have little to no crops at all to harvest in the fall.

McCoy said the area has seen localized floods before, but never in the history of Van Wert County has there been a month-long event that has taken such a heavy toll on the farmers.

For the month of June, McCoy measured 15.71 inches of rainfall at his office in Van Wert. This surpasses the previous June record of 10.56 inches set back in 1993. But he went on to say that the area across Van Wert received the least amount of rain in the county. Areas across the southern and northern parts of the county received between 20 and 24 inches for the month.

“This is just unreal, considering our yearly average total runs at around 36 inches and we just received between half to two-thirds of the total in one month,” McCoy noted.

The EMA director advised that the culprit was long coming in the form of an El Nino weather system. Last year, an “El Nino Watch” was issued for the Pacific Ocean, with signs an El Nino would develop.  But winter came and went with no further development.

In early spring, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) issued an “El Nino Advisory” indicating the weather system was strengthening and the effects would be felt across the country. All indications pointed to a wet spring and summer with temperatures below average.

“We watched a ‘Bermuda High’ set up and its location combined with a persistent upper trough over the west has been drawing an enhanced flow of deep gulf moisture into the southern plains and has been transported up into the Ohio Valley,” McCoy explained.

Moreover, research of past El Nino years indicate that July will have above normal precipitation and moderate temperatures normally in the 80s.

Local communities and area residents have been hit hard with flooding issues this past month.

“Although all creeks and streams have been out of bank at some point in June, it was the St. Marys River that runs through Willshire and Jennings Creek outside of Delphos that really gave us fits,” said McCoy. Around 24,000 sand bags were used in Willshire to protect businesses and homes when the St. Marys crested at 25.1 feet several weeks ago. And many people had homes surrounded by water or coming into basements where there were never water problems before.

“The ground is so saturated that water isn’t getting away and then, when you get a three- to four-inch rain overnight, there is no way to stop the flash flooding that occurs,” he said.