Replies

[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...amp;TM=47368.51

New Durham Estates still underwater

Timothy O'Connor
For The News-Dispatch

WESTVILLE - When the water rose to 4 feet and nearly entered her home, Stacie Schoenfelder moved her grandmother's Shirley Temple doll collection to the highest shelves.

The water never got in, but three days of rain left the 37-year-old New Durham Estates resident surrounded by knee-high water.

"I can kind of relate to how Texas residents were feeling after this one," Schoenfelder said.

She may have gotten the worst of it among her neighbors. When a nearby retention pond and excess rain merged to flood the mobile home park, it was Schoenfelder's home that was closest to the water. Further, her car took in about 6 inches of the murky liquid.

"I moved (the car) over to higher ground Saturday, never imagining it'd get this high," she said.

"I feel like I'm a freak show because everyone keeps on stopping to take photos."

The rain may have stopped, but that doesn't mean the problems are over. It might take days before the waters are pumped out and Schoenfelder only has three days worth of medication left for the back fusion surgery she recently underwent.

"Nobody prepared for anything like this to happen," she said.

Schoenfelder may be segregated by "sea," but even those still on land were trapped by the waters. Because two roads are completely underwater, even those in homes not afflicted by the flood can't exit New Durham Estates.

Some tried to get around this problem by creating an outlet through a 20-foot-long grassy area to a parallel road. A Jeep Grand Cherokee beached in the mud was a symbol of the idea's success. A similar attempt made a street over fared better, but only pick-ups were able to get through.

Most people living in the 50 affected homes will have to wait until the water subsides to leave their homes and that might mean days of missing work or school.

"You just sit here and look stupid," resident Kevin Childress said.

While they wait for the flood to recede, many are trying to figure out how the water got so high. Some think the state diverted overflow from adjacent U.S. 421 into the pond.

"If they would have never done that, the place would never have flooded," Childress said.

When asked, a representative of the Indiana Department of Transportation said road water was redirected to many detention ponds but was unsure if that was true in the New Durham Estates case.

Childress and other homeowners also blamed the park's management for not being prepared.

"(They) should have known this place was going to flood," he said.

Others disagreed.

"The whole throwing of the blame is ridiculous. You can't throw blame on the rain," resident Melissa Westlund said.

Those who manage the park said they were doing what they could, given the situation.

"Over the years, the state highway department reconfigured the intersection at Indiana 2 and U.S. 421 and the excess water flows onto our property," Wendi Earley, park manager, said in an e-mailed statement. "We take a lot of water from the north side of Indiana 2 and there is very little retention for that overflow.

"Unfortunately, when 12 inches of rain falls, there is nowhere for the water to drain. We have met with the state to rectify the drainage problem to no avail and are taking further action."

[Roger Kaputnik]

http://thenewsdispatch.com/main.asp?Sectio...amp;TM=47368.51

There WAS somewhere for the water to go. Let this be a lesson that you cannot just pave over wet land and magically absorb rainfall. I am afraid that the people who planned and approved construction which ended up flooding will learn nothing, and regular python-boot-wearing folks will suffer the consequences.