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Gordon saw the beaches of Florida Keys and the Gulf Coast, but who knew last week that his travels would take him right across Ohio.
The remains of Tropical Storm Gordon are expected to travel up the Interstate 70 corridor from west to central Ohio Saturday night and Sunday morning, pouring another 4 inches of rain into Columbus, likely causing widespread flooding in low areas.
And this 4 inch is above about 1 inch that central Ohio had already received the storm system at 6 pm. Saturday after about 18 hours of rain.
"If you get 5 inches of rain in a 24-hour period, yes, there will be floods," said John Franks, a meteorologist with the Wilmington National Weather Service. "No one is going to get out without seeing floods.
"The low areas will definitely collect the water from this system.You'lln't just get away with it."
The National Weather Service released a lightning watch Monday for most of central Ohio.
On Saturday night, the almost solid rain band was spreading from New York to central Illinois, sometimes seeming to perfectly fill the borders of Ohio. But "we did not have too much rain in the Columbus area compared to what we saw elsewhere," said Franks.
On Saturday night, the most intense part of the storm was crossing south Indiana toward central Ohio, and "as we get closer, the rains are increasing," says Franks.
The constant drizzle in Columbus is expected to turn to showers and possibly thunderstorms between 4 and 5 o'clock on Sunday. The low point of the night should cool down to about 59 degrees, with winds of up to 16 mph. The risk of precipitation is 100% before the storm sinks Sunday, according to the forecasts of the National Meteorological Service.
The risk of rain will decrease by Monday, with the storm expected to be completely out of Columbus on Monday night, the National Weather Service said. According to current forecasts, Gordon is expected to dump 4 to 5 inches across Columbus "from the entire storm," the bulk of which will take place on Sunday, Franks said.
Driving under such conditions can become dangerous because around 9 am on Saturday, when the city center is split in two, there is about 20 inches of water due to clogged thunderstorms. The Columbus police reopened the highway after the teams corrected the problem, allowing the road to drip.
The wet pavement would also have contributed to at least one accident on I-270 heading east, on the northeast side of the city, where a car came out on the right side of the road and struck a retaining wall in the Easton area.
@ReporterBush
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