COLUMBUS, OH - State watercraft officers with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) Division of Watercraft continue to assist local communities with evacuations and rescues in flooded areas of Ohio.
“Our officers are highly skilled and trained in fast water river rescues that allow them to provide needed assistance in areas affected by flooding,” said Ken Alvey, chief of the ODNR Division of Watercraft.
ODNR was one of the first state natural resource agencies in the country to develop a fast river rescue training program, which began in 1979.
Early Wednesday, two ODNR river rescue unit were in Morgan County to assist with evacuations from areas around McConnelsville that are affected by the rising Muskingum River. Another Division of Watercraft river rescue team from Akron remains on stand-by status in response to the flooding in Belmont County.
On Tuesday night, state watercraft officers from Cambridge, Akron and Delaware were called upon to help monitor flooding along the Tuscarawas River below the Bolivar Dam located just north of Dover in Tuscarawas County.
Last week, state watercraft officers aided in the rescue and evacuations of 23 people from three flooded trailer parks located along the Muskingum River near Stockport and McConnelsville. ODNR officers are credited with helping to save the life of an elderly woman who became trapped by rising floodwater inside her mobile home along Route 60 on Thursday.