Regional news

The good news: The rain stopped and the flooding has peaked. The bad is that many residents in low lying areas of Bluffton are pumping basements.

On Sunday morning there was no official number of flooded residents and, while flooding was serious, it did not reach heights of recent floods.

Here are alerts from the Bluffton police department:

6 a.m. Sunday - Closed Streets as of 6 a.m. Sunday:

Flooding at university, 12 21 13

With flooding expected in the Findlay area, the American Red Cross of Hancock, Seneca and Wyandot Counties will be opening an Evacuation Center on Sunday morning. 

The Evacuation Center will open at 11 a.m. Glenwood Middle School, 1715 N. Main St. in Findlay.  People coming to the Evacuation Center should park behind the school and use the rear entrance to the building.  Food will be available at the center.  Red Cross disaster responders will evaluate the flood situation on Sunday evening and consult with Findlay City officials to decide if an overnight shelter will be needed.

At 10:39 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 21, the Bluffton police department issued the following statement:

"The non-emergency number to reach the Bluffton command center is 419-369-2967." Contact us if you need assistance

At 9:45 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 21, the Bluffton police department issued the following statement:

"Police are recommending residents in low areas move vehicles to higher ground. Riley Creek is at its limits now.

Riley at Buckeye, 12 21,13

Why go out of town when everything you need for Christmas can be found in Bluffton?

Each year the Icon canvasses Main Street businesses to find Bluffton-made products, or products with a Bluffton label. This year’s list comes very affordably priced and includes items for persons with a wide variety of interests.

Here’s our list, as we walked up and down Main Street – please forgive us if we’ve omitted something.

The annual Texas Roadhouse Restaurant holiday fundraiser is now underway at BFR Sports and Fitness, according to Carole Ennekiing, BRF director.

Gift Cards with values of $15, $25 and $50 are on hand in limited supply; large orders can be pre-paid and picked up at the Bluffton facility. The cards may be used at any Texas Roadhouse restaurant in the United States.

BFR receives 10% of the total value of sales. Cards will be available through the end of December. Contact BFR by calling 419-358-4150 for more information.

When it rains it pours and when it snows it really snows.

Guy Verhoff, Pandora weather observer, reports that the snowfall of Saturday, Dec. 14, was 6.3 inches.

Add one-half inch of snow on the 13th and 1.7 inches on the 16th and suddenly we’ve accumulated 8.5 inches – not counting snowfall on Dec. 17.

To add to the wintry conditions, the low temperature of the month reached minus 2 on Dec. 12.

Open the attachment at the bottom of this story for the daily December weather summary.

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