The Boardman Township Fire Department pushes through a flooded U.S. Route 224 on Sunday evening. The township fire station rain gauge showed 4.2 inches of rain fell in a little over two hours Sunday. Submitted photo / Ashley Fox

BOARDMAN — A storm that pounded parts of the Mahoning Valley with four inches of rain in about two hours Sunday, also brought a verified tornado to Boardman, National Weather Service officials confirmed Monday.

The storm had Canfield fairgoers running for cover, canceled holiday events and left motorists, many in Boardman, navigating flooded roadways.

According to National Weather Service, a brief weak tornado touched down in Boardman at 5:44 p.m. Sunday.

Classified as an EF-0, the weakest level, the tornado brought 80 mph winds with a width of 15 yards and a path of 125 yards. No deaths or injuries were reported, but the damage included shingles coming off a commercial building on York Avenue near the Southern Park Mall.

‘NATURAL DISASTER’

On Monday, Jason Loree, Boardman Township administrator, called the weather event “a natural disaster.”

Loree said a township fire station rain gauge showed 4.2 inches in a little over two hours.

“That (rate of rainfall) registers outside of the available classification charts (provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration),” Loree said. “It is larger than a 1,000-year, two-hour storm.”

The chart tops out at 4.06 inches for a two-hour rainfall.

Responding to flooding that ponded on roadways, Loree said there isn’t a storm system built big enough to handle that amount of rain in such a short time.

He said the problems include roads and yards being flooded, and individuals’ basements flooding through the floor drains.

Social media posts showed busy U.S. Route 224 between Salinas Trail and Glenwood Avenue in the area of the Boardman Plaza closed for a time because of the high water. Some of the businesses in the plaza, including Save-A-Lot food store, received some water damage. The Save-A-Lot used bottled water cases to dam the front of the store to try to keep the high water away.

Loree said the east end of the plaza and the parking lots were covered with about 3 feet of water.

WATER IN BASEMENTS

“Stormwater will infiltrate the sanitary system and then travel back into people’s homes through the floor drain and plumbing in people’s basement,” Loree said, noting the problem is worse in older developments where homes have footer drains and downspouts from gutters tied into the sanitary system.

He said the biggest cause of basement flooding is sanitary lids getting covered with rainwater.

“The best thing that can be done to help mitigate this type of basement flooding is a sanitary backflow preventer. The Mahoning County Sanitary Engineer’s office offers a program to help people offset the cost of these backflow preventers through a program they have developed.” Loree advised residents to contact the sanitary engineer’s office for more details.

Loree also said roadside ditches and streams “quite frankly can’t handle that type of rainfall.”

The township is expected to work with both the Mahoning County Emergency Management Office and the sanitary engineer to apply for state — and possible federal — assistance to aid those with flood damage in the basements.

Boardman Township also has partnered with the ABC (Austintown-Boardman-Canfield) Water and Stormwater District to try and remove homes from the flood plain through a disaster mitigation grant process with the Ohio EPA.

However, this is the tip of the iceberg, Loree said.

“There are over 1 million linear feet of stormwater pipe in Boardman Township that will need to be assessed,” Loree said, not to mention maintenance issues.

Among the neighborhoods that need major infrastructure repairs include Applewood Acres, north of Route 224 and behind Homestead Drive.

“These projects alone will cost over $500,000. We were able to apply for a grant to cover the construction cost at Homestead Drive, but there is only so much grant funding available,” Loree said.

WET TRUMBULL COUNTY

In nearby Trumbull County, the Skyway Drive-In on Leavitt Road NW in Warren Township posted on social media that a flooded concession stand canceled shows for Sunday and Monday.

The Trumbull 911 Center handled several calls about disabled vehicles off state Route 11. A caller to 911 dispatchers about 10:30 p.m. Sunday reported wires and a tree down just north of a home in the 5500 block of Phillips Rice Road in Mecca Township.

The flash-flood warnings remained in effect for the Valley until 11 p.m. Monday. Excessive runoff may result in flooding of rivers, creeks, streams and other low-lying and flood-prone locations, the National Weather Service was warning. However, climate data shows all local river readings well below flood stage.