DAYTON, OHIO — The Miami Conservancy District (MCD) flood protection system successfully prevented flooding across Southwest Ohio during last week’s heavy rainfall by capturing and controlling billions of gallons of water before it could impact downstream communities.
During the event, MCD’s system stored water at four dams—Englewood, Lockington, Taylorsville, and Huffman—holding a peak volume of 5.1 billion gallons of water, or enough to fill more than 7,700 Olympic-sized swimming pools. This temporary storage reduced river levels and minimized flood risk in communities along the Great Miami River.
“This wasn’t just high water—this was a coordinated flood storage event across the region,” said MaryLynn Lodor, General Manager of the Miami Conservancy District. “We captured and controlled billions of gallons of water before it could become a problem downstream. Our dams, levees, and floodgates all worked together exactly as designed to protect our communities.”
In addition to dam operations, MCD staff actively monitored river conditions and critical infrastructure in Piqua, Troy, Dayton, West Carrollton, Miamisburg, Franklin, Middletown, and Hamilton. Crews inspected levees for signs of erosion and closed floodgates where necessary to provide an added layer of protection.
Without MCD’s flood protection system in place, communities along the Great Miami River would have experienced significantly higher river levels and an increased risk of flooding.
As of this morning, all dams have returned to normal operations and are no longer storing water. Englewood Dam was the last to come out of storage at approximately 6 a.m. River levels are now receding at all locations along the Great Miami River.
MCD’s five dams have a combined storage capacity of 274 billion gallons of water. This event utilized only about 2 percent of that capacity, underscoring the system’s ability to manage much larger storm events.
The system is engineered to manage a flood comparable to the historic 1913 flood—plus an additional 40 percent of runoff. The Flood of 1913 was caused by 9 to 11 inches of rain over a 72-hour period. To reach what is known as the system’s “Official Plan Flood,” rainfall totals would need to reach approximately 14 to 17 inches over the same timeframe—an event with less than a 0.01 percent chance of occurring in any given year.
MCD will continue to monitor conditions and maintain its flood protection infrastructure to ensure ongoing safety and resilience across the region.
Media Note: Video and photos of dam operations and floodgate closures are available upon request. Interviews with MCD experts can be scheduled.
For more information, visit www.MCDwater.org.
