By Susan Vela
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Fairfield Public Works crews on Tuesday gather items placed curbside by Crystal Drive residents. (Craig Ruttle photo) | ZOOM |

ST. CLAIR TOWNSHIP - Harold Holloway could have done with a little time.

But on Monday, floodwaters from Four Mile Creek rushed toward his home here so rapidly that he couldn't save his BMW, let alone a swing set, lawn mowers and tools.

The thousands of dollars in property damage is why Holloway anxiously awaits the installation of 26 new upgraded stream gauges along the Great Miami River and its tributaries.

Special software will network with the gauges, allowing any Internet user to determine "real time" water levels at the gauge nearest them.

The Miami Conservancy District is financing the $300,000 installation, which should be completed this summer and give flood-prone residents at least an hour to move their valuables to higher ground.

A similar $352,000 system is planned for the Mill Creek, which perennially floods in Sharonville and Evendale.

"It would probably help," Holloway said. "Too much (rain) came down at one time. That was the gist of the whole problem. (Right now) there's really nothing you can do. If it's coming, you can't stop it. You can just grab your wife, your kids, and get out of Dodge."

The Miami Conservancy District provides flood protection, water resource monitoring and recreational opportunities for 1.5 million people in the Great Miami River watershed.

Only six of the district's 26 stream gauges have been upgraded.

The gauge in Oxford, along Four Mile Creek, is ready to go.

But the one in Camden, along Seven Mile Creek, doesn't have the new radio equipment that will connect to the "real time" software.

The district does not have a gauge on Pleasant Run Creek, which feeds the Great Miami near Fairfield.

E-mail svela@enquirer.com