{"id":820749,"date":"2026-08-21T07:20:08","date_gmt":"2026-08-21T07:20:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/820749\/"},"modified":"2026-08-21T07:20:08","modified_gmt":"2026-08-21T07:20:08","slug":"village-of-buckeye-lake-issues-mandatory-evacuation-order","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/820749\/","title":{"rendered":"Village of Buckeye Lake issues mandatory evacuation order"},"content":{"rendered":"

BUCKEYE LAKE, Ohio (WSYX) \u2014 The Village of Buckeye Lake has issued a mandatory evacuation order, beginning Thursday, August 20 at 8 p.m., according to a Facebook post<\/a> from the Village of Buckeye Lake.<\/p>\n

It will remain in effect for 24 hours unless lifted by the mayor, according to the post.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The geographic area under which this order is affective is described as all properties WEST of SR79\/ SR360 intersection within the Village of Buckeye Lake.<\/p>\n

This is due to the forecasted cresting of the South Fork of the Licking River to 883.50 ft. The river is at 881.54 feet.<\/p>\n

The evacuation is mandatory to protect the life of residents in the affected area.<\/p>\n

I-70 is closed in both directions near Buckeye Lake after floodwaters covered the highway. The rain has stopped, but the water continues to rise.<\/p>\n

Neighbors along North Bank Road Northeast say they are helping each other move belongings to higher ground and making room for vehicles to avoid additional damage.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve never seen the water come that far, and so I\u2019m concerned that it\u2019s creeping that way right now,\u201d said John Winkle, who lives near the lake. \u201cThat\u2019s just gonna take the water from there and take it across where it\u2019s flooded over there, so it\u2019s not really taking it anywhere except for right there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Winkle and his neighbors are preparing for the possibility of more flooding.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re just trying to prepare for the worst,\u201d Juliet Barnhart said.<\/p>\n

ODOT says the water has risen to a level seen only twice before in the past decade. The flood gauge near I-70 is not expected to fall below flood stage until about 11 p.m. Saturday.<\/p>\n

I-70 is expected to remain closed in both directions until at least 5 p.m. Friday, though reopening will depend on roadway conditions. The flooding is also creating problems for people trying to get around the area.<\/p>\n

One neighbor said frustration is growing as residents deal with traffic and the amount of work needed to protect their homes and belongings.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome people are getting a bit frustrated because of the traffic or the lack of, you know \u2014 just a lot to take care of right now… but tempers [are] rising,\u201d Barnhart said.<\/p>\n

Several neighbors have already seen property damage, including boats breaking loose from their lifts as the water rises.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’re fortunate that we’re up a bit more on higher ground,\u201d Barnhart said. \u201cOur neighbors here are sharing. They’re sharing their driveway so we can accommodate other people in the neighborhood.\u201d<\/p>\n

For those dealing with the flooding, the interstate closure is only one part of a much larger problem.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people\u2019s lives have been completely turned upside down,\u201d Matt Bruning with ODOT said. \u201cI think a little inconvenience in traffic is not too much relative to people losing their homes, so be patient.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BUCKEYE LAKE, Ohio (WSYX) \u2014 The Village of Buckeye Lake has issued a mandatory evacuation order, beginning Thursday,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":820750,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,3,21,19,22,20,25,24],"class_list":["post-820749","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-america","tag-news","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/820749","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=820749"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/820749\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/820750"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=820749"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=820749"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=820749"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}