Fire chief: “Worst flooding in 25 years”
HUNTINGTON COUNTY, Ind. (WANE) – Heavy rain overnight caused major flooding problems across the region. Huntington County experienced some of the worst of that flooding. Andrews in one of the hardest hit areas.
“Nightmare that sounds like it’s going to be a week long nightmare,” Andrews fire chief Tom Wuensch said.
That nightmare all started around 1:00 a.m. Tuesday. Loon Creek was overflowing with trees and even tires floating down it by Tuesday afternoon.
“You name it, it’s come down this creek today,” Wuensch said.
The fire chief said his department had to evacuate around 30 people from their homes overnight. The majority are back home and dealing with extensive water damage.
“They have full basements and we can’t start pumping yet because the water is up to high,” Wuensch said. “This is supposed to be a 100 year flood plain. I’ve been a fireman here for 25 years now and I’ve had to sandbag it seven times. Something is surely off on their 100 year flood plain.”
The fire chief said the water had dropped about three to four feet since Tuesday morning, but there’s still plenty of clean-up left to do.
“Our biggest concern after this is we lost the train bridge last night,” Wuensch said.
Firefighters were working to control the flooding at Loon Creek when they heard a loud pop around 3:00 Tuesday morning. They came down the road to find that a train had gone over the railroad tracks, forcing the tracks to crumble into the water below.
The fire chief said the flooding came so fast that sandbags weren’t an option.
“If we sandbag this side of the creek, we push all the water to the people on the other side of the creek,” Wuensch said.
The fire chief said they are prepared to work as long as need be to control this flooding. He said they should be prepared as long as the heavy rain doesn’t return until at least late Tuesday night.
Steven Davis lives right next to Loon Creek. Most of his three-acre backyard is flooded.
“Mother Nature cleans Indiana. Period. You cannot get around her. When it’s her time to clean, you can not stop it. Period,” Davis said. “I work my butt off on this place, and I want this to be clean, and Mother Nature is cleaning it. Period.”
Davis said he actually doesn’t mind the flooding because he said he can’t do anything about it.
“People have a negative attitude. Oh, my house is ruined- this, that, and there. My basement is flooded, but hey dude, this is the way Mother Nature cleans our place,” Davis said. “Every time, Mother Nature speaks, you better pay attention. Am I wrong?”