Wills Creek (Ohio) - January, 2005 Flood

January, 2005 Flood

On January 16, 2005 the Wills Creek Dam 40°09′22″N 81°50′51″W / 40.15611°N 81.84750°W / 40.15611; -81.84750 became the only dam in the Army Corps of Engineers Huntington District's history (established 1938) to reach its spillway elevation and have water flow uncontrolled over the top of the spillway. On that day Wills Creek Lake was 37 feet (11 m) above its normal level of 749 feet (above sea level), and spanned 20,452 acres (82.77 km2), causing it to be the largest man-made lake in the state of Ohio.

This extreme event was caused by an average of 5-8 inches of rain falling over Central Indiana and Ohio during January 4–14, 2005. This rain combined with snow melt and saturated ground to produce record breaking runoff. Other reservoirs also set pool level records, including Alum Creek, Deer Creek, Delaware Lake, Paint Creek, Atwood Lake, Bolivar Dam, Charles Mill Lake, Dillon Lake, Dover Dam and Mohawk Dam.