Winter flooding, 2018

Flooding of Federal Creek Thursday night and Friday morning was swift and powerful, as witness this sign in the hamlet of Broadwell in eastern Athens County. Debris was caught against the sign and that, combined with the speed of the current, bent the supporting poles. Roadside grass was all swept in a downstream direction, too.

The Hocking River was out of its banks and across Route 329 upstream of Stewart Sunday evening. The flow of the water, from fields on the right to the river on the left, suggests that the flood was at least receding.

The Hocking rose over the weekend, not so much from rain that fell here as from upstream runoff. By mid-morning Saturday, the water was so high that the notorious dropoff at White's Mill barely registered on the water's surface, which was generally roiling like a washing machine.

The sign warning of an upcoming stoplight was superfluous Saturday -- the Hocking River had appropriated Ohio 144, a major route in eastern Athens County. Beyond the flooding, a rain-induced rockslide had covered one lane of the highway.

A swampscape reminiscent more of parts of the deep south than of Athens County, this low-lying wooded area in Eastern Athens County was covered by a few feet of water. In the distant background is the normal riverbed of the Hocking River.

The Hocking River's flow was so strong and high that it turned an oxbow into an island, pushing the flow straight at a recently completed bike path and bridge. It would get much worse.

But it didn't.

That brown thing on the left is the Hocking River.

Turned out it could have stayed open. As these drivers, who ignored the sign, predicted.