In the almost two years Melody Hale has lived in her house on Storer Avenue, she has never experienced flooding like what happened Thursday night.“It was like somebody had just taken a hose and stuck it under the door, and water was just coming in,” said Hale, who lives in the home with her daughter, CC Mathis, and her granddaughter.As heavy rain pummeled the west side of Akron, Hale’s basement filled with two feet of water.“When I opened up the [front] door, all I [saw] was a sheet of water, like fog and mist,” Hale said. “And then I’m looking for the street. ‘Where’s the street? What is this?’ … And then it just kept getting higher and higher.”Hale said the flooding began around 10 or 11 p.m. As her street filled with water, residents pushed parked cars to dry ground.Melody Hale stands in her basement surrounded by items that were damaged by water from Thursday night’s storm. Hale said she had at least two feet of water in her basement, which ruined a lot of her belongings. (Kassi Filkins / Signal Akron)“Girls and anybody out here who could do anything was out here pushing everything,” Hale said.Melody Hale shows a photo of her flooded basement from Thursday night’s storm. Hale said there was at least two feet of water in her basement. (Kassi Filkins / Signal Akron)As Hale showed Signal Akron reporters her flooded basement, where the previous night water poured through cracks in the walls, she pointed out a suitcase that was now bloated with water. Hale said the next step was to get plastic totes and start going through items in her basement.“Well this is one way to clean out your basement,” she said.Theatergoers left stranded at Weathervane PlayhouseAfter attending Thursday night’s preview of “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” at Weathervane Playhouse, theatergoers walked outside to find the parking lot flooded.Marissa Leenaarts, director of “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” said the show ended around 10:15 p.m. Thursday. While there was no flooding in the theater, the parking lot, where more than 40 cars sat, was a different story. Water reached halfway up some of the cars, forcing audience members to abandon their vehicles until Friday morning.Stephanie Cook leans on the side of her van – which would not unlock – in the parking lot of Weathervane Playhouse Friday, Aug. 9, 2024. Cook’s van suffered severe water damage during Thursday night’s flash flooding event. (Kassi Filkins / Signal Akron)“Some people are not going to be able to tow their cars until tomorrow or so though, because there’s so many people that need their cars towed,” Leenaarts said.Water reached almost to the top of the tires on Chanda Porter’s rental car. Porter, an actor in “Charlie in the Chocolate Factory,” was driving a rental because her vehicle was damaged in a car accident Sunday. “So the front is OK, but there’s standing water in the back,” said Porter, as she showed Signal Akron reporters her car Friday.Porter is 50 years old and has lived in Akron on and off her whole life. She said this is the worst flooding she has ever seen.Dozens of cars are stranded in the parking lot of Weathervane Playhouse Friday, Aug. 9, 2024. (Kassi Filkins / Signal Akron)When Doug Kohl came outside during intermission to see how things were weather-wise, everything looked pretty good.“But in the space of an hour, boom,” he said.Kohl’s car had severe water damage and would not start Friday morning. “It gets lit, but then it spews mud out of the tailpipe,” he said.He was able to get home Thursday night thanks to his wife, Kathy, who is a technical director for the musical. Her car was in the staff parking section and wasn’t damaged by the rain.“We actually took other people home who were stranded and then just figured we’d let the water recede and see how bad the damage was in the morning,” Kohl said.Kohl lives in the Merriman Hills neighborhood. His home lost power due to Thursday’s storm but was otherwise unaffected. He said it was “a madhouse” after the show ended, but he commended the Weathervane staff for their help.“They put on a pot of coffee and allowed people to charge their phones,” said Kohl, who ended up leaving the theater around 11:30 p.m.Gobin Dudnauth, whose backyard fence stands a few feet from the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad, points to the high water line on his garage left by Thursday night’s flooding. He said the rains were the worst he and his wife Debbie have seen in the five years they’ve lived in the Merriman Valley. (Andrew Keiper / Signal Akron)Shades of Sandy, but this time, it’s Debby For two New York City expats living in the Merriman Valley, the floods last night recalled Hurricane Sandy. Gobin and Debbie Dudnauth, whose backyard fence stands a few feet from the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad, said the rains were the worst they’ve seen in five years of living in the valley.“This makes me remember when I was in New York,” Gobin said. “… Jamaica Ave. had two feet of water.”The rain settled several feet high in their backyard and garage, alarming Gobin enough that he moved his SUV when the waters reached the floorboards. After moving the car, he began bailing water out of his garage with a shovel late Thursday night. It was so bad that he even broke away some concrete with hopes it would help the water drain. In the aftermath, he noticed that the floods picked up and carried two large logs and a decorative stone carving across his backyard. When Signal Akron caught up with him Friday, there was still sitting water along his back fence.“It was floating like a toy,” he said. Gobin, who said he had thousands of dollars of clothes and kitchenware packed away in boxes at the back of the garage, will be spending the weekend assessing the damage and cleaning out. “I don’t know what I’ll do yet,” Gobin said about potential flood damage.The rain at Thursday’s John Legend concert at Blossom Music Center started around 6:30 p.m. Legend and the orchestra began the performance a little after 7 p.m., but paused the show around 7:50 p.m. due to continuous lightning. (Photo courtesy of Kevin Libal / The Cleveland Orchestra)John Legend concert postponed due to stormWhen John Legend and the Cleveland Orchestra took the stage at Blossom Music Center Thursday, guests were settled in for an evening of music and storytelling from the Ohio native. But Mother Nature had other plans. The rain started around 6:30 p.m. Legend and the orchestra began the performance a little after 7 p.m., but paused the show around 7:50 p.m. due to continuous lightning. Patrons with lawn seats were asked to evacuate to shelter. At 9:15 p.m., the decision was made to postpone the concert, said Jen Steer, media relations manager for the Cleveland Orchestra. View this post on InstagramA post shared by John Legend (@johnlegend)“The lightning strikes just never subsided enough for us to continue,” Steer said. “The 35 minutes of John Legend we had were amazing.”Phyllis and John Mascolo of West Akron took their grandchildren to their first Blossom Music Center concert Thursday.“I think we made it through maybe four or five songs,” John Mascolo said. “But for the rain, we enjoyed the music and John Legend’s rapport with the crowd. Once the downpour came, the first adventure was getting everyone safely to the car. The grassy field was a mud puddle, and drivers struggled to find the best way to exit without getting stuck.”Once the show was postponed, Steer walked the Cleveland Orchestra’s photographer to his car and helped protect his gear from the rain. She then stayed in her car until the rain cleared, posting updates to the orchestra’s social media channels. “Because of the rain, it kind of staggered people leaving. Everybody decided to give up at different points throughout the evening,” Steer said. “It wasn’t necessarily that mad rush to leave a concert that some of us are familiar with.”Steer said the Cleveland Orchestra is currently working with Legend’s team to reschedule the show, and they hope to have an update next week.Jonathan Curtis, owner of the Noisy Oyster Pub in the Merriman Valley, tears up as he talks about the damage caused by Thursday night’s flash flooding. Curtis said customers were inside the bar when the water started to rise in the creek that runs through a culvert directly under the building. Much of the Merriman Valley was bailing out from mud and water damage caused by torrential rain from remnants of Hurrican Debby. (Susan Zake / Signal Akron)Noisy Oyster Pub among hardest hitIt was like something out of a movie for Jonathan Curtis, the owner of Noisy Oyster Pub on North Portage Path. The house was packed for Thursday night dinner service when the waters began rising in the creek that runs under his restaurant. An emotional Curtis said he was frozen when the flood waters began coming into his building, until a colleague shouted and broke him from his awful reverie. “I was standing on that [raised seating] area when it heaved, and I don’t think that even snapped me out of it,” he said. Inside, the pub looked as though it had been hit by a hurricane. There was deep, wet mud throughout the dining area, and the raised seating area that overlooks the creek was warped and completely disheveled. “This is by far the worst,” Curtis said. There have been other floods in the eight years he’s owned the pub, but never this bad. On Friday, there were still plates and glasses from Thursday’s dinner service on the bar. Chairs were askew throughout the pub, and wood paneling was broken off a wall. Despite the rapidly rising waters and quick exit for many, Curtis said some patrons tried to wait out the flood to pay their bar tabs. The floor in the raised seating area of the Noisy Oyster Pub in the Merriman Valley lies covered with mud from flash floods Thursday evening. The water in the creek that runs through a culvert underneath the building rose high enough to enter the building and flood the parking lot. (Susan Zake / Signal Akron)“It was basically a river that came through the parking lot then snaked down that way,” Curtis said, pointing towards Merriman Road. Curtis said that everyone in his restaurant got out safe and no one was hurt, a saving grace for him in an upended scene. “That’s kind of how I try to keep it together,” said Curtis with tears in his eyes. “Knowing that some people might have it worse.”Paul Ortiz, the owner of Portal West Coffee, cleans up debris that washed into the parking lot in front of the shop. He said there was chaos in the Merriman Valley Thursday night when heavy rain turned into a deluge. (Susan Zake / Signal Akron)Luck for low-lying coffee shopPaul Ortiz, the owner of Portal West Coffee, said there was chaos in Merriman Valley Thursday night when heavy rain turned into a deluge.There was no roadway access for several hours on Merriman Road around 9 p.m., with first responders and citizens alike taking their vehicles along the towpath to avoid waist-high waters. Ortiz said that some who tried to drive their cars through the water were stuck, eventually abandoning their vehicles. He estimated that five or six cars were left in the water. “We got really lucky last night,” Ortiz said. His business, which sits below ground level in the Liberty Commons Shopping Center, only had a “mushy” bathroom floor after the water receded. Still, he was out early Friday morning helping to clean the lot and make sure customers knew they were open. Ortiz, who lives in the valley, said sewer and drainage systems were overrun by the rain. Like most business owners and residents, he said this is the worst flooding he’s seen in the area. “Maybe this is a good wakeup call for the city,” he said. Amanda Fenwick, co-owner of High and Tight Barbershop with Adam Hoy, carries out a small book case to add to the pile of furniture and other fixtures from the shop she was moving outside in order to clean mud and water from the inside. The shop, located on Merriman Road in the Merriman Valley, was flooded along with a number of other small businesses after torrential rains sent water cascading along the valley floor. (Susan Zake / Signal Akron)Cleanup begins for High and Tight BarbershopIt’s hard to get a haircut in several inches of standing water. At High and Tight Barbershop, a few doors down from Portal West Coffee, Adam Hoy started cleaning out his shop at 9 a.m. Friday morning. “We won’t be cutting hair for a few days,” Hoy said. He and co-owner Amanda Fenwick were busy clearing out pretty much everything besides the barber chairs in hopes they would dry when the sun broke through later in the day. There was still standing water and mud from his front door to the rear exit Friday, and the rear parking lot had several inches of mud and mess. He was working late Thursday when it started to rain heavily, but the shop was clear when he left that evening. “I think it took a while for everything to come downhill,” he said.First responders in Akron Thursday evening utilized a 10-ton, heavy-duty police vehicle to save about 25 people during flash flooding. (Gary Estwick / Signal Akron)Humongous police vehicle comes to the rescueFirst responders Thursday evening utilized a 10-ton, heavy-duty police vehicle to save about 25 people during flash flooding. The Community Rescue Vehicle’s high-water capability allowed Akron police and firefighters to reach residents in stranded vehicles and transport pedestrians to safe spaces — from the Cascade Valley to the Merriman Valley. “The look on their faces when they see the truck initially is shock,” said Lieutenant Todd Sinsley of the Akron Police Department, who drove the vehicle Thursday. “But once they see that it has the [police] badge on the side of it, they see us, they [display a] look of relief.”Thursday night marked just the second time the rescue vehicle has been used, and the first for community rescues. The vehicle, which is believed to cost around $300,000, can breach buildings, but also carries the same medical equipment found in ambulances. Also on Thursday: From the top of the rescue vehicle, firefighters launched inflatables to reach residents stranded in high waters. “The cross training with the police department really showed its value last night,” said Deputy Chief Scott Pascu of the Akron Fire Department. “Our dive team was able to deploy.”Gianni Hairston, right, and his wife, Julia Hairston, clean up outside Nicole’s Connection tanning salon on Akron Peninsula Road. The Hairstons are the groundskeepers for the complex, which was flooded Thursday night after a torrential downpour. (Susan Zake / Signal Akron)The post ‘It just kept getting higher and higher’ — Merriman Valley, parts of west side, bail out after flooding in Akron appeared first on Signal Akron.