CLEVELAND — As severe weather continues to make its way through Northeast Ohio, the National Weather Service in Cleveland issued a tornado watch for Carroll and Tuscarawas counties Tuesday evening.
According to the NWS, this meant "severe thunderstorms and tornadoes are possible" within the affected area, though it did not mean they are certain to occur. The alert expired by 11 p.m., with thunderstorms indeed rolling through the region.
A very small portion of Tuscarawas County (less than one square mile) was also under a tornado warning, which mostly impacted Coshocton, Guernsey, and Muskingum counties. The alert expired at 9:30 p.m.
Both counties are also under a flash flood warning, which is currently slated to expire at 3:45 a.m. Wednesday. Officials say roughly 2-3 inches of morning rainfall along with the evening storms caused multiple creeks and streams in Ohio and West Virginia to overflow, with New Philadelphia and Carrollton among the areas that could be impacted.
In addition to Carroll and Tuscarawas, a number of communities near bodies of water are under flood warnings. These rivers and streams include:
- The Cuyahoga River near Independence and Jaite, affecting parts of Cuyahoga and Summit counties.
- The Black River in Elyria.
- Killbuck Creek in all of Holmes and Wayne counties.
- The Huron River in all of Erie County.
- Eagle Creek at Phalanx Station in Trumbull County.
Parts of central and western Ohio were already impacted by tornadoes last month, with three people dying in Logan County around Indian Lake. An EF2 twister also badly struck Plymouth in Richland County, and Gov. Mike DeWine has already requested assistance from the federal government.