There was a rainbow in the sky over Portsmouth early Friday morning, but the city’s flood defense supervisor wasn’t certain if it meant flooding or not.

“The Ohio crested at 48 feet at 10 a.m. this morning (Friday), but if we get all this rain they are predicting for the weekend it will go back up,” said Mike Bowman at the sewage treatment plant.

He said the river level was predicted to drop very slightly, by just one-tenth of an inch by 10 a.m. today.

“I’m hoping we get just a sprinkle. That would make me happy,” Bowman said.

The flood stage at Portsmouth is 50 feet.

The National Weather Service in Wilmington was predicting nearly an inch of rain to fall on the area today and tonight, with more rain coming Sunday.

The high water means pollution from city sewage plants up and down the Ohio River.

Bowman said he had all three pump stations in operation. They pump untreated sewage up and over and into the river, bypassing the normal outflow pipes that carry treated sewage to the river. These must be shut off to prevent backwater from the river flowing into the sewage-treatment plant.

Operators at the Greenup Dam said the river level there at noon Friday was a fraction under 49 feet and had started to fall slightly.

G. SAM PIATT can be reached at

(740) 353-3101, ext. 236, or spiatt@

heartlandpublications.com.