With recent severe weather in the Tri-State over — for now — and cleanup efforts underway, we are sunsetting this blog. However, continue to visit wvxu.org for updates on the aftermath, how you can find help and any steps the city may take to mitigate future issues.

You also can stay informed by signing up for our Daily View newsletter or downloading our app.

Friday evening, evacuation orders in western Hamilton County were lifted as the threat of flooding subsided. The Hamilton County Emergency Management Agency said people in and near Harrison could return home.

On Facebook, the HCEMA wrote “Please use caution if you encounter any flood waters. Follow road signs and local guidance; some roads may still be closed.”

An overnight shelter was still open at the Community Fellowship Church located at 505 Bielby Rd., Lawrenceburg, IN 47027. The Harrison Community Center transformed to a day shelter.

Late Saturday morning, the Hamilton County Engineer’s office listed Lawrenceburg Road as still closed between Suspension Bridge Road and Stephens, and between US50 and Miamiview.

It was also still listed as closed between Stateline and Brooks.

Some residents of Harrison got knocks on their doors late Thursday and early Friday telling them to evacuate due to flooding of the Whitewater River.

At least 18 people were displaced by the flooding, according to authorities. Some streets were still closed Friday morning.

The river is expected to crest Friday afternoon and it's unclear when residents will be able to return to their houses.

The YMCA's Camp Ernst in Burlington, Kentucky, has some unexpected campers. The camp is housing hundreds of Duke Energy restoration crew members in its cabins.

According to a statement, the camp is providing a place for crews working extended shifts to sleep before heading back out to restore power.

As of Friday morning, there were about 13,000 Duke Energy customers without power in the Tri-State.

Courtesy

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YMCA Camp Ernst

Nick Swartsell

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WVXU

Authorities have asked some residents of Harrison to evacuate because of flooding along the Whitewater River. Jennifer Althoff lives on the Indiana side of the border. As of Friday morning, she'd been at the Harrison Community Center for hours.

“It was probably 10 or 11 p.m., I had knocks at my door,” she says. “They’re like ‘We need to evacuate, they’re evacuating everyone on State Street.’ ”

About 20 houses on State Street had been evacuated as of 8 a.m., as well as homes on Campbell Road and Featherwood Drive. Althoff says her house is still dry, as far as she knows.

Althoff says she's been told it will be several hours at least before she can return home.

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Several homes in southwest Harrison were evacuated after the Whitewater River spilled out of its banks.

Nick Swartsell / WVXU

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Several homes in southwest Harrison were evacuated after the Whitewater River spilled out of its banks.

Nick Swartzell / WVXU

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Several homes in southwest Harrison were evacuated after the Whitewater River spilled out of its banks.

Nick Swartsell / WVXU

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Several homes in southwest Harrison were evacuated after the Whitewater River spilled out of its banks.

Nick Swartsell / WVXU

Ken Napoli says he lives near the river and is used to it getting close to his house, but he's never had to evacuate before.

“It was coming up. It went around my house, so, I’m stuck there,” he says. “I waited. It got a little higher. I fell asleep, and I wake up to about a foot of water in my house.”

Napoli says emergency crews had to rescue him by boat. He took shelter at the Harrison Community Center.

The Whitewater River has been rising overnight as it carries flood waters from Wayne, Fayette and Union counties in Indiana.

People in Harrison, Ohio, on Campbell Road near State Street have been ordered out. The city of Harrison says those who live on Flintstone Drive should also be ready to leave. The Hamilton County Emergency Management Agency has issued evacuation orders all along Lawrenceburg Road to Suspension Bridge Road near I-275.

Shelters are open at the Harrison Community Center at 300 George Street, and the Lawrenceburg Community Fellowship Church at 505 Bielby.

The Whitewater River crested at 25 feet at Brookville, Thursday night. Flood stage there is 20 feet.

Hamilton County EMA Director Nick Crossley says the agency is still helping communities clean up from this week's storms. It's also collecting damage reports to see what kind of aid might be available.

"It appears that most of our communities have been able to manage the impacts to their communities adequately. It may take a little bit of time, but they are they are managing it internally with their internal resources, and then we're coordinating with Ohio EMA for a possible disaster declaration," Crossley told county commissioners Thursday. "The difference with this event versus our localized flooding event a couple of weeks ago, ironically, was that this was basically a statewide event."

Crossley said communities seem to be managing debris management well so far and he doesn't expect a need for a larger, centralized effort.

Hamilton County Engineer Eric Beck said his crews are hard at work clearing debris from county right-of-ways.

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Springfield Township

"We have been out there continuously ... clearing the roads. The county does remove all the debris and the trees that are within the right-of-way. That's what our crews are out there doing. They're cutting them up, removing them as we speak. Most of the townships do the same thing with on township roads. They clean everything inside the right-of-way, and a lot of the townships, if the property owner pulls it out to the right of way, they'll remove that as well."

Beck said as of mid-day Thursday there were about nine county roadways still closed.

"[We're] waiting on Duke to get out there and get the lines out of the way so we can finish cleaning those up and get those open to the public," he said.

Tuesday's storms brought down tree branches and leaves across the area. People in Hamilton County now have places to dispose of the debris.

Hamilton County Resource and Hamilton County Emergency Management Agency have three public drop-off sites for storm-related yard waste.

Oakdale Elementary School
3850 Virginia Court, Green Township, OH 45248
Hours: Saturdays and Sundays, 8 a.m. to noon

Bzak Landscaping
3295 Turpin Lane, off State Route 32, Anderson Township, OH 45230
Hours: Monday-Friday, 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Saturdays and Sundays, 11:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Rumpke Sanitary Landfill
3800 Struble Road, Colerain Township, OH 45251
Hours: Saturdays and Sundays, 8 a.m. to noon

The waste that's collected will be composted or mulched.

Guidelines

• Only yard trimmings, brush and branches are accepted.
• Brush and tree branches must be cut into manageable lengths and no larger than 12 inches in diameter.
• Brush and tree branches must be bundled. Bundles must not weigh more than 50 pounds.
• Yard trimmings should be brought to the locations in containers or bags. Brown paper bags are preferred. Containers and plastic bags will be returned.

Visit Hamilton County ReSource’s Yard Trimmings Drop-Off Sites for more information: https://hamiltoncountyresource.org/residents/set_up_recycling.php

A section of Interstate 70 westbound in Indiana is closed indefinitely after being washed away by flooding, WYSO reports.

The closed section of I-70 is about 9 miles west of the Ohio border. Eastbound traffic at that section of I-70 is open.

"We are currently under a Level 3 travel warning (Essential or Emergency Travel Only)," the Wayne County Sheriff's Office says on social media.

Traffic is being diverted onto U.S. 27. The office recommends taking a detour of U.S. 27, U.S. 36, S.R. 9, back onto I-70.

While Cincinnati Public Schools isn't in session just yet — CPS' first day is Wednesday, Aug. 19 — some CPS locations are closed due to power outages.

They include:

• Education Center 
• James N. Gamble High School
• Westwood School
• Academy of Multilingual Immersion Studies (AMIS)
• Oyler School

Services and activities scheduled at the four schools are canceled unless participants receive different information directly from the school or program, a release notes.

The Education Center is most notable, as that is CPS' main office, which issues school badges, fields parent and staff phone calls and more.

All but two Cincinnati Recreation Centers have been activated as emergency weather shelters. The centers in Corryville and Westwood are closed due to power outages.

Membership is not required to visit the centers, which will be open Thursday during normal operating hours. You can find a list of center locations and hours online at cincyrec.org.

The Duke Energy outage map shows nearly 50,000 customers are still without power this morning.

As many in the Cincinnati area remain without power 24 hours after severe storms hit the region, the Red Cross is opening an emergency shelter at the Hartwell Recreation Center (8275 Vine Street) beginning at 6 p.m. Wednesday, the City of Cincinnati says in a release.

Food will be available, and the shelter will operate overnight with assistance from the Cincinnati Recreation Commission, Cincinnati Fire Department and the Cincinnati Police Department.

Duke Energy reports that while crews are working "around the clock," there are still approximately 93,000 households without power.

Meanwhile, Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther has declared a state of emergency after storms damaged much of Ohio's capital city and left one person dead.

Our news partner WCPO reports parts of eastern Indiana may have seen more than 10 inches of rain since midnight.

Wayne, Fayette and Union counties all had flash flood emergencies this morning. Meteorologist Cameron Hardin says more storms are possible this afternoon and evening.

"Flooding will be the biggest concern with the severe threat that moves on in, but also there's still going to be the threat for some gusty winds and maybe some isolated areas with some rotation as well."

Hardin says he's never seen weather like this before, where weather sits over the same areas.

"The severe threat that's going to be coming in later on this evening is thanks to another line of storms," he says. "That's what we need to kind of clear everything out — it's going to push this system out of here."

Extended power outages can mean big losses when it comes to a stocked refrigerator.

Seb Reivers

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Unsplash

The U.S. Department of Agriculture offers the following guidance for determining what can be kept and what should be thrown out, and how long is too long.

Keep reading >>

Our news partner WCPO has declared Wednesday another weather alert day, as storms with lightening and heavy rain persist in the area.

As such, some schools and businesses are closed or have delayed openings this morning.

See them here >>

At least one person in Central Ohio has died after severe weather moved through Tuesday.

The person died in Roseville, a village that lies in Muskingum and Perry counties. News about the fatality was confirmed by Gov. Mike DeWine during a Tuesday afternoon press conference.

The National Weather Service says a possible tornado may have hit the north side of Columbus when a strong line of storms blew through central Ohio Tuesday morning, toppling trees and knocking out power to thousands.

Continue reading this article from WOSU >>

Severe weather is expected to continue in Hamilton County through the overnight hours, the county's emergency management team says in a release.

"Additional storms with strong winds and continuous rainfall may worsen existing conditions, including flash flooding, downed trees, downed power lines, debris, sewer backups and damage to homes and businesses," the agency says.

It reminds residents to:

• Turn around, don't drown, if you encounter flood waters while driving or walking.
• Avoid downed power lines and assume any downed power line is live and dangerous. Stay at least 30 to 50 feet away.
• When thunder roars, go indoors. And stay there for at least 30 minutes after the last clap of thunder.

You can signup for alerts from Hamilton County at alerthc.org.

Duke Energy reports over 175,000 homes and businesses are without power after severe storms swept through the Tri-State Tuesday. Local director of communications John Juech says it was a significant, fast-moving event.

"We have a lot of downed trees. We also have downed wires, which should always be avoided and reported. We've already had internal calls about just getting as many crews and resources into the field as possible ... a lot of those situations just need to be assessed before they can be repaired."

Juech says with more storms in the forecast tonight, it's not clear how long it will take to restore power.

"We are going to send all available resources out into the field to restore power. That's incredibly important to us. We do apologize for anyone experiencing outages, and know that we will be working around the clock."

Our reporters scattered throughout the Tri-State following Tuesday's severe weather to find downed trees, high waters through the Duck Creek, and wood chippers already at work. Watch below.

Lesley Marsh

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WCPO

Pictures and video of storm damage are coming in after powerful storms prompted a series of tornado warnings across Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana Tuesday afternoon.

Our news partner WCPO says if you have storm damage and can safely take a photo, to please email it to them at newsdesk@wcpo.com.

See more photos at this link.

Editor's note: A previous version of this post featured a photo generated with AI. It has been removed.

A record rainfall of 2.07 inches was set in Dayton, Ohio, today, breaking the previous record of 1.86 inches set in 1915, the National Weather Service reports.

Duke Energy reports over 175,000 homes and businesses in Greater Cincinnati are without power as of about 5:20 p.m. That includes Southwest Ohio, Northern Kentucky, and Southeastern Indiana.

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Duke Energy

An employee captured this video of the rain falling during a tornado warning in Cincinnati on Aug. 11, 2026. (And yes, he soon took cover!)

Meanwhile, Cincinnati Edition host Lucy May stayed hard at work even while sheltering in place.

Jennifer Merritt

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WVXU

WVXU's Nick Swartsell is on the scene at the Duck Creek flood gate, which failed to close the last time there was flash flooding in the area about three weeks ago.

"Water is high through the channel but not the worst we've seen," he reports. "A few traffic lights out and some businesses without power in Oakley but no major damage apparent yet."

WCPO Chief Meteorologist Steve Raleigh says despite all the rain, there have been few flood warnings.

"In some areas it's quite possible these storms are moving so fast — keep in mind they're moving at 50 to maybe 70 miles an hour — they're moving so fast they didn't even have time to accumulate that kind of rain."

Government agencies are warning Ohioans to be cautious of “very dangerous” summer storms battering much of the state.

Aside from high winds and tornado warnings, the ongoing severe weather could leave days of floodwater behind, Gov. Mike DeWine said Tuesday afternoon from the Ohio Emergency Management Agency in Columbus.

Read more >>

I-71 South is closed just south of the Norwood Lateral due to a tree down and a crash. WCPO reports lots of traffic lights are out as well, just as rush hour is about to begin.

Reporter Dany Villarreal is Hyde Park, the scene of flash flooding about three weeks ago. She reports:

"Hyde Park Square is all right. No flooding where there was last time."

Still, WLWT is reporting a tree down in the neighborhood. We will update with a location.

Isabel Nissley is headed to Northern Kentucky. On her way from our HQ in Evanston, she notes multiple lights out in the area.

About 136,000 Duke Energy customers in Greater Cincinnati are without power as of about 4:20 today. That includes Northern Kentucky and Southeastern Indiana.

This from our news partner WCPO: