A flood watch has been issued for parts of the Cincinnati area, mainly near and south of the Interstate 71 corridor, beginning at 2:00 PM Thursday afternoon. The potential exists for thunderstorms with torrential rains and flooding not only within the watch area but also outside the watch area.

The greatest threat is inside the watch area. Unfortunately, I hear it said that a watch means to listen for warnings and that is not what it means. A watch means that if you are in a flood prone area, which includes living in a floodplain area, travelling through a flood prone area, or camping or vacationing in a flood prone area, flooding or flash flooding is possible with or without a warning. If you are in one of these flood prone areas or driving through one of these flood prone areas and there is heavy rain, be aware that conditions are favorable for flooding to occur.

Not everybody will see flooding and it is certainly possible that not everybody will even see heavy rain but it is very likely that some areas will. As we recently saw in Texas, it is better to be aware and prepared than to be caught unaware and unprepared.