By Susan Vela
and Steve Kemme
The Cincinnati Enquirer

NEW MIAMI - Heavy rain that just wouldn't go away gets most of the blame for the flooding suffered by residents along Four Mile, Seven Mile and Pleasant Run creeks in northern Butler County.

Kurt Rinehart of the Miami Conservancy District in Dayton said residents along Four Mile and Seven Mile creeks were victimized by storms that dumped as much as eight inches in 24 hours.

"Honestly, it sounds like just a lot of rain in a short period of time," said Rinehart, the district's manager of rivers and streams. "We've had wet conditions in recent days, but no place for the water to soak in. The whole area was saturated and got more water than it could handle."

Similar to the response after 2001 floods, which caused severe flooding in parts of the Tristate, some point fingers at development for aggravating flooding problems. However, much of the area flooded over the weekend remains rural amid a boom elsewhere in Butler County.

The population of this hard-hit village actually has been dropping in recent years. It fell from 2,637 in 1990 to 2,469 in 2000, a 6.4 percent decrease.

The median value of a house in New Miami rose from $48,900 in 1990 to $80,100 in 2000. But that $80,100 figure is $43,000 below the median housing value for Butler County.

Dozens of Fairfield residents bore the brunt of flooding along Pleasant Run Creek. Mark Parker, Fairfield's development manager, sees problems from development in northern Hamilton County. The malls, shopping center and subdivisions along Interstate 275 and directly south of Fairfield amount to huge swaths of uninterrupted concrete, which causes the water to rush toward the Great Miami River and its tributaries.

"It's actually all the storm water coming from the county of Hamilton," Parker said.

The region's development was also blamed for the property damage sustained in the July 2001. It exceeded $10 million for Hamilton, Butler, Clermont and Warren counties.

E-mail svela@enquirer.com; e-mail skemme@enquirer.com