BY PHILLIP PINA
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Storms rolled through Greater Cincinnati on Sunday, knocking out power, causing a mudslide and threatening to drench those who ventured outdoors too long for the unofficial first weekend of summer.
"Some weekend," said Joe Barkey, a Cincinnati public works supervisor. He spent much of Sunday directing work crews clearing debris from a mudslide along Columbia Parkway.
About 2 inches fell during the late-afternoon rainstorms, with golf-ball-size hail spotted in western portions of the city, said Jim Lott, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Wilmington, Ohio.
It has been a soggy holiday weekend. It rained Saturday, and there is a 40 percent chance of thunderstorms today. Rain should end by late today, with a few days of dry weather forecast the rest of the week, he said.
The storms moved along a warm front just south of Greater Cincinnati, Mr. Lott said. A funnel cloud was reported Sunday over Sayler Park, but there was no apparent touchdown and no reported damage.
The storms knocked out power to about 3,000 Cinergy customers Sunday afternoon, Cinergy spokesman Robert Norris said. Crews spent the evening reconnecting power, with most of the affected customers in the Fort Thomas area.
Crowds at the Taste of Cincinnati downtown spent Saturday and Sunday ducking in and out from under awnings and waiting out the thunderstorms.
And while the Cincinnati Reds game Sunday was over before the thunderstorms moved in, Saturday's game was called in the seventh inning because of rain.
Hamilton County was placed under a flash-flood watch Sunday night, but there were no major problems reported, Mr. Lott said. The rain did weaken a hill along Columbia Parkway about 2 miles east of downtown Cincinnati, Mr. Barkey said. The storm caused a section of the hill about 50 feet up and 150 feet wide to slide down up against a wall along the roadway.
Trees pulled down with the mud were dangling over about a lane of westbound traffic when the mudslide was reported about 11 a.m., Mr. Barkey said.
There was no apparent threat to the highway or buildings.
Work crews were removing the trees Sunday evening and were planning to close Columbia Parkway near the mudslide to remove the rest of the debris, Mr. Barkey said.
He hoped to have the area cleared by Tuesday morning rush-hour traffic.
