KENT, Ohio — If you live in Kent and visit John Brown Tannery Park, Fire Chief James Samels said you can expect to see rising water levels along the Cuyahoga River.
Due to all the rain, Samels said these conditions are normal, so people do not need to be concerned.
“We do expect the water ways to be up when there’s been a lot of rain,” said Samels.
But he said crews will keep an eye on it in case there are any emergency reports, which they have not received.
“It’s moving at about 1300 cubic feet per second. Compared to when we had some river rescues last summer where it was over 1500 that’s not as high as it was at some of the high points last year but certainly it’s up, so we don’t recommend that anyone gets in or near the river,” said Samels.
News 5 spoke with one man off camera, who said this is the highest he has seen the river since he moved to Kent in 2017.
Wendy Starcher also said it’s high, which she did not expect to see when she came out to take pictures.
“Just remembering a little bit from my childhood when my family used to go white-water rafting down the river. It was a summer-time tradition type thing,” said Starcher.
Portage County Emergency Management Agency Deputy Director Brett Lee said he’s not surprised to learn there are rising water levels along the Cuyahoga River in Kent.
“The saturation levels in the ground right now are extremely high, so of course the only way the water is going to go is downhill and find the lowest spots, so we’re going to see a lot of water here for a little bit,” said Lee.
With warmer weather on the way, Lee urges people to stay out of the water due to fast currents and cold conditions.
“It’s not the time of the year to be playing around in the water right now,” said Lee.
