Bartholomew County Emergency Management officials began checking heavily-flooded areas around the county Friday afternoon, while continuing to monitor area river levels that continued to fall throughout the day.
Life returned to somewhat normal in Columbus on Friday after the area was deluged with 2 to 4 inches of rain that fell on already saturated ground and immediately began filling the area’s low-lying areas. There were isolated reports that parts of Bartholomew County logged 5 inches of rain from Tuesday night through Thursday.
Although no serious injuries have been reported, first responders were dealing with two emergencies late Thursday into early Friday morning, said Shannan Hinton, Bartholomew County Emergency Management director.
At about 2:30 a.m. Friday, Columbus police began evacuating the area of 10th and Iowa streets near the Greenbelt Golf Course after water poured into a low-lying area on 10th, inundating about 15 to 20 homes in the area. Six homes along 10th and 11th streets near Iowa had water inside their homes.
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Farley Sayer, who lives on 10th St., said he was unaware that the area was flooding until a Columbus police officer knocked on his door and said they needed to evacuate. Sayer’s car, and his son’s, had already been flooded, and his basement was rapidly filling with water, he said.
A Columbus Department of Public Works truck was working to pump water out of the 10th Street area on Friday afternoon, he said. Sayer estimated he still had about a foot of water in the basement on Friday afternoon.
The American Red Cross has been called in to assist families in that area, Hinton said.
Earlier in the evening, Columbus firefighters were carefully dealing with a tenuous situation on the city’s west side when 60 residents at GreenTree at Westwood Senior Living, 4895 Pine Ridge Drive, were evacuated at 6 p.m. Thursday and sent home with family members after a flooding threat.
Columbus firefighters and city Department of Public Works crews cleared drains near the facility and pumped water out of the area for four hours from an overflow ditch, where the dirt was nearly failing, causing water to flow toward GreenTree.
City crews were working to prevent the ditch from failing, which would have caused water from the overflow, and potentially the retention pond, to flow toward GreenTree and flood the facility.
Friday morning, the water in a retention pond for the neighboring Westwood Pine Apartments had lowered, as had the level of water in the overflow, and there was no water surrounding GreenTree.
Residents returned to their apartments there on Friday morning, staff members said. No injuries were reported.
“GreenTree at Westwood Senior Living wants to express its deep gratitude to the city of Columbus Fire Department for their perseverance in preventing floodwaters from penetrating our community. The safety and security of our residents is always our top priority and we’re pleased to report that all of our residents have returned after spending the night with family and friends,” said Vicky Colson, GreenTree executive director.
While first responders were working in challenging conditions at both these incidents, area drivers had their own challenges Friday morning navigating a large number of road closings due to high water. Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. called off classes Friday after Bartholomew County Emergency Management announced as many as a dozen road closings and more than 20 reports of high water throughout the county.
Hinton continued to emphasize that drivers should not drive around the high water or road closed signs because of the severe danger of becoming caught in unknown depths of water on some roadways.
Jonathan Moore Pike on Columbus’ west side became the go-to route on Friday morning from I-65 as commuters from the south side of Bartholomew County struggled to find a way around road closings at State Road 11 in Garden City and Southern Crossing.
Columbus police were called to the Garden City closing on Friday because of motorists attempting to go through the high water there, Hinton said. Several cars stalled and were abandoned in the flood waters there on Friday.
State Road 11 in Garden City likely will not reopen until sometime Sunday morning, Hinton said, as the East Fork White River is not expected to crest and then fall below flood stage until Sunday afternoon.
The East Fork White River was at 13.8 feet at 1 p.m. Friday, with flood stage at 9 feet, resulting in extensive agricultural land flooding all the way to Walesboro, county officials said. Mill Race Park and Noblitt Park have large amounts of water, and the People Trail from the west side into downtown Columbus has disappeared under several feet of water that has reached the edge of westbound Jonathan Moore Pike.
Southern Crossing was expected to open just after State Road 11 sometime on Sunday, Hinton predicted.
Emergency management canceled the flood warning for Haw Creek near Clifford on Friday morning after the creek plummeted to 6.6 feet, far below the flood stage of 12 feet.
In Columbus, Cummins contractors were using pumps Friday along Haw Creek near Plant 1 and the company’s research building.
The company invested in a flood wall after the 2008 flood to prevent surface flooding that inundated the area then, said Katie Zarich, Cummins spokeswoman. Friday’s pumping was to get water out of the stormwater drains that flows into Haw Creek, she said. When Haw Creek is as high as it was on Friday, the water can’t drain by gravity as is normal, so it is then pumped out, she said.
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Check therepublic.com for updates on road closings and notifications about high water.
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Driftwood River
The Driftwood had not crested as of Friday afternoon, according to Bartholomew County Emergency Management. At 2 p.m. Friday, the river was at 14.98 feet, with flood stage at 11 feet. The Driftwood was expected to crest at 15.4 feet at 1 a.m. today. The 10-year flood mark for the river is 15.8 feet.
Flat Rock River
The Flat Rock River was at 15.29 feet at Friday mid-day, with flood stage at 11 feet. It was expected to crest at that mark on Friday. The 10-year flood mark is 15.8 feet.
East Fork White River
The East Fork White River showed 12.79 feet at 2 p.m. Friday, with a flood stage of 9 feet. It crested at 1 p.m. Friday at 13.79 feet. It’s 10-year flood mark is 15.4 feet.
Haw Creek
Haw Creek had dropped to around 6.03 feet on Friday and was continuing to fall. Minor to moderate flooding occurs at the 12- to 14-foot range for the creek.
Source: Bartholomew County Emergency Management
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