Portland mayor declares state of emergency
PORTLAND, Ind. (WANE) The city of Portland is under water, again.
“It’s just very frustrating that for the last three weeks we’ve had one rain after another,” Mayor Randy Geesaman said.
The city has been under water at least three times already this summer.
“This summer has been terrible,” Jay County Emergency Management Director Ralph Frazee said. “We had over five and half inches of rain last night.”
The flooding started around 11 o’clock Monday night. Volunteers worked through the night filling sandbags to keep water out of homes and businesses. Tuesday morning, dozens of volunteers were still filling the bags for the line of people waiting.
“It just came so fast and so quickly,” Geesaman said. “We had no time to react.”
Officials said out of all the storms the city has been hit by this summer, this was the worst one.
“We’ve had water in some basements in the downtown area, but today we actually have water in the businesses, so this is the worst we’ve seen it this year,” Frazee said.
Geesaman has declared a state of emergency.
“It’s probably the worst we had and I think part of that is because everything is already saturated,” Geesaman said. “The water table was completely up, so it had nowhere to go.”
All of the businesses and roads in the city’s downtown are closed and under several inches of water. The courthouse, health department and city hall were all closed Tuesday. There are six inches of water inside city hall, forcing the police department to move to the second floor, according to Geesaman.
Emergency Management is also working to declare a state of emergency for Jay County. More than 24 roads are under water or washed away across the county. Just north of downtown, a mobile home park is still under several inches of water.
“It just kept on rising and rising. It’s up to my knees,” Donavon Bentz said about the water in Oakwood Mobile Home Park.
Around noon Tuesday, the water didn’t show any signs of stopping.
“Our biggest problem we see right now is you see bubbling through the catch basins which means it continues to rise,” Geesaman said.
With the chance of more rain on the way, people in Portland are crossing their fingers hoping it doesn’t get any worse.
“Hope for the best and expect the worst,” Geesaman said.
City officials said it could take several days for the water to recede. Until then, they ask that you avoid areas of high water. A Homeland Security representative is in Portland to help EMA officials assess the damage. You can also click here to report any recent damaged caused by flooding to Homeland Security.
Red Cross set up a shelter at Jay County High School Tuesday afternoon for anyone displaced by the flood. They are asking that everyone bring their own bedding. A meal will be provided.