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[Southsider2k12]

We went out to Garwood today, and driving along Highway 20, there are significants parts of it underwater. Behind the Big Lots building, where the marshland is, that has overflown and is covering a lane to a lane and a half of the road, and it is still raining. Going along 20, there are lots of parts of Evergreen Plaza and Trail Creek that are flooding as well. Hopefully everyone out there is OK!

[Southsider2k12]

http://thenewsdispatch.com/main.asp?Sectio...ArticleID=17368

Two men drown while saving child in Chesterton
Rain, flooding cause problems here as well

Weekend rains and flooding - remnants of Hurricane Ike - turned tragic Sunday as two men drowned in Chesterton while saving a child.

Gene Davis, Indiana Department of Natural Resources law-enforcement officer, and Lt. John Jarka of the Chesterton Fire Department confirmed the report. Jarka could not release the victims' names, but said one was in his 40s and the other in his 70s.

"We initially responded to a report of a child in the water," Jarka said. He believes the men entered the water in the Pope-O'Connor Ditch, which feeds into Coffee Creek, to rescue a 13-year-old child. The incident occurred just behind the Westchester South subdivision, which is east of Fifth Street in Chesterton. Jarka said he was told the child was swept under Olivia Court there, through a metal tube that runs under the street. At that point, the child was out of the water, but the men drowned.

Dive teams from Chesterton, Porter, Burns Harbor and the DNR were at the scene and assisted with removing the men from the water.

Locally, some homes had flooded basements, some trees were uprooted and some roads were closed due to flooding, but John Jones, Michigan City director of emergency management, said no one was injured due to flooding.

Al Walus, Sanitary District general superintendent, said, "We made quite a bit of progress yesterday, but today, we had more rain."

Crews responded to many calls about water in basements, and Sanitary District crews worked with the street department and Michigan City Police Department officers to monitor roads and close them when that became necessary to keep people safe.

The area had a lot of rain, Walus said. In fact, this weekend saw record levels. Between midnight Saturday and 11:59 p.m. Saturday, the rain gauge at Michigan City High School measured 5.94 inches. Between midnight Sunday and about 5 p.m. Sunday, the measurement was an additional 3.30 inches. The DNR's 100-year frequency list records record rainfall for the same period of time at 6.3 inches, Walus said.

"That gives us some perspective," he added.

Trail Creek, which normally measures about 2 feet deep at the Springland Avenue bridge, rose to 12 1/2 feet by 4:30 p.m. Sunday.

"In many areas, Trail Creek has very deep banks," Walus added.

But the heavy rain did cause some flooding into lowlands, including the golf course at Pottawattomie Country Club.

Streibel Pond "worked exactly as it is designed to work," Walus said. Water covered most of the interior walking trail by late Sunday afternoon, he added.

The water level was higher than Walus has seen it since the pond went into commission in October 2005.

Although he was aware of no injuries attributed to the storms or flooding, Jones said, "I know some people are living under duress because of flooded basements.

"Unfortunately, there isn't much we can do about saturated ground. We aren't seeing much overland flooding. Much of it comes from ground saturation. I've seen some seepage through cracks in basement floors, and that tells us the ground is just saturated."

Crews have been working steadily since early Saturday.

In response to flooding here, the Indiana Department of Transportation on Sunday closed U.S. 20/35 under the Indiana 212 overpass and Indiana 2 at Indiana 39.

Also, at press time, La Porte, South Central and New Prairie schools had called a two-hour delay for classes to begin today.

The National Weather Service, however, is predicting a break in the weather.

"We should be seeing clearing by Monday afternoon or evening and clear for most of the rest of the week," said Sara Weisser, a meteorologist with the Syracuse, Ind. office of the National Weather Service.