Strong storms create mess, outages for many Indianapolis neighbors
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Strong storms created a mess for homeowners and power companies looking to restore power across Indianapolis.
The signs of a wild June night still surround many west side Indianapolis neighborhoods Thursday, from downed trees, broken lines, to high water signs.
The Wednesday storm created flash floods and caused nearly 40,000 power outages in Indianapolis.
“We got the weather alert,” flood victim Susan Stegemoller said. “That we were going to have a flash flood, but none of us believed that we possibly could because we’re not in a flood zone, so that wasn’t going to happen here.”
But it did. Stegemoller was shocked as her neighborhood turned into a steady stream.
“Are you kidding me?” Stegemoller said. “Everybody is yelling from house to house, ‘Is it bad over there?’ Yes, it was bad everywhere.”
Jill Engel is one of those other neighbors.
“We’ve never had flooding like this in 30 years,” Engel said. “Never.”
She got caught in the rain as she tried to make her way home. Despite the flooding, Engel says the street never lost power.
“The water was about four-to-five feet deep,” Engel said. “Cars had been parked all over the side of the road. They couldn’t get through to their homes.”
Power loss was a concern though for several Indianapolis neighbors. Strong winds knocked down a number of large trees, causing nearly 40,000 IPL outages.
“It was kind of scary at night time without lights,” Indianapolis resident Jeannie Purnell said. “We had candles everywhere though.”
While the candles provided light, it couldn’t save Purnell’s food.
“A lot of it I had to throw out, but some of it was still frozen hard,” Purnell said.
IPL put 400 employees on the outage problem, even bringing in crews from Dayton, Ohio.
Down trees and muddy homes serve as reminders of Wednesday’s storm, but neighbors were thankful Thursday gave them an opportunity to clean.
“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” Engel said. “No humidity. It’s gorgeous. You’d never know we had a flood.”
IPL officials hope to have power restored by Friday night.