County officials eye storms

CINCINNATI - The radar room at the Hamilton County Emergency Management Agency is steadily occupied, right now, as the remnants of Hurricane Isaac are blown eastward toward the Tri-State.

"This is probably one of the slowest moving tropical systems we've ever seen," said Bary Lusby the Operations Manager for the Hamilton County Emergency Management Agency.

"Because it is so slow moving it is dropping a lot of rain in very specific areas, which creates a lot of problems for us because it's very hard to say where the flooding is going to occur and where it isn't," said Lusby.

Lusby will be in close contact with the various fire chiefs in Hamilton County to alert them to rising flood waters.

"A main question is the rate of rainfall. If we get a large amount of rain in a very short period of time then you can see some flash flooding," said Lusby.

A specific area of concern are the hillsides along Columbia Parkway that are prone to mudslides. City officials will be watching that stretch of road closely in case they must close it down quickly.

An area that also floods when significant amounts of rain fall is around Riverview East school in Columbia Tusculum. But officials say that area would be a result of the Ohio River flooding, which would come days after this weekend's storms.

Stay with 9 News and WCPO.com all weekend for the latest on your weather information.