Minor Flooding Follows Heavy Rainstorms in Kent

This morning's rainstorms caused minor flooding, closed one street and caused streams and rivers to swell in Kent.

The city between Mogadore Road and S.R. 261 today after a stormwater basin inlet pipe became clogged with debris and runoff from the storm — combined with melting snow — began to flood the roadway.

Kent Service Director Gene Roberts said crews started working on the clogged inlet between 5 a.m. and 6 a.m. today. He said it was the worst of three large flooding issues. Large basins also backed up and caused flooding on Lake Street near Harvey Street and on First Avenue just outside the city limits.

“Lake Street and First Avenue were minor," Roberts said. "And we got those fixed prior to it becoming a problem. Cherry Street was the worst of the three of them by a long shot.

“And that doesn’t count the probably 40 or 50 catch basins that flooded and caused street flooding because they were iced up,” he said.

Roberts said crews were pumping the water out of the Cherry Street inlet pipe in order to use a backhoe to clear away debris and ice and reopen the inlet to stormwater.

The flooding was the result of a large thunderstorm system that moved through the area between 2 a.m. and 6 a.m. today.

geography professor Thomas Schmidlin, a local weather expert, said the rain combined with the snow pack created several inches of runoff today.

"I measured 1.24 inches of rain, and the snowpack had about an inch of water in it," Schmidlin said in an e-mail.

Despite several inches of runoff, the city's police and fire departments reported no emergencies related to today's flooding or heavy rains.

Roberts said the numerous catch basins that overflowed caused minor street flooding but not enough to close any other roads. He expects Cherry Street will have reopened by the end of the day today.

“The biggest problem was ice damming,” he said.