Heavy rains leads to flash flooding in Wayne County

GREENVILLE — Wayne County experienced wide spread flash flooding Thursday morning as heavy rains began falling after midnight.

“It was pretty well wide spread, Piedmont, Greenville, basically all over the county” in low-lying areas, said Wayne County Sheriff Dean Finch.

Ditches, he said, couldn’t handle the amount of water, and “the little creeks are out.

“ … The ground is so saturated; it can’t soak in. It’s got to run off.”

Finch said there was water over the road in spots on Highway 34 between Piedmont and Patterson.

“It wasn’t deep, but it was running across,” Finch said.

According to the sheriff, it rained “pretty hard” after midnight at his Patterson home.

The National Weather Service radar estimates nearly 3 inches of rain fell on the northern part of Wayne County.

“It poured. This morning, at about 6:30, we had some really, really heavy downpours,” Finch said. “ … It was an hour or so before I could get out after it calmed down.

“ … At my house, once it quits raining, in 15 to 20 minutes, the creek will go down, and I can get out.”

During the time he was water bound this morning, Finch said, his chief deputy reported some gravel roads had water running over them.

There were no reports of roads being impassible, he said.

“You just have to be careful,” said Finch, who indicated he had no idea how much rain had fallen as his gauge had quit working.

“One of the guys working here at the office … said his rain gauge ran over,” Finch said.

Finch expects the situation will “get worse before it gets better.”

The flash flooding, he said, may turn into flooding if “it keeps going the way it’s been going.”

Sgt. Clark Parrott said the Missouri State Highway Patrol had no reports of flooding issues Thursday morning.

“We’re good and quiet;” however, that could change later in the day, Parrott said.

If it does, “we’ve got the resources … we’re prepared,” Parrott said.