Deluge of rain floods out roads, causes accidents
Torrents of rain struck the Adams County area Monday evening causing both the St. Mary’s River and Wabash River in the county to spill out onto flood-prone low land areas.
The Decatur Wastewater Treatment Plant reported nearly 2.5 inches of precipitation fell at their site on Monmouth Road over a 24-hour period Monday and that as of Tuesday morning, the St. Mary’s River stood at 18.44 feet. While nearly a foot and a half over the flood level stage of 17 feet, the level is still well below the horrendous flood of 2003 that saw the St. Mary’s River swell to 26.9 feet.
The National Weather Service changed the severity level for flooding at 11:22 a.m. Tuesday from minor to moderate for the St. Mary’s River. The NWS forecasted the highest area for the river would come, not unexpectedly from recent floods, in the SR 101 area around Pleasant Mills in St. Mary’s Township.
SR 101 is currently closed by the high water and excessive agricultural flooding is in progress possibly affecting the east and southeast areas of Decatur. The river is expected to crest at 20.2 feet and with further possible rain predicted, that level may remain until at least Friday of this week.
Rod Renkenberger, executive director of the Maumee River Basin Commission, told the Daily Democrat that even with the flooding, it shows the mitigation program initiated from the 2003 flood is working by limiting damage. Structure damage is down, he said, with the largest mitigation project being that 101 structures/residences were bought and razed– many in the Parkview Drive area of Decatur–and that six more structures were flood proofed by being elevated.
Another portion of mitigation was the INDOT-sponsored construction of a new bridge over a section of US 224 east near Bellmont High School.
The Wabash River at Linn Grove in Hartford Township was measured at 11.52 feet at 1 p.m. Tuesday according to the NWS and is expected to crest at 13.9 feet Thursday. The record crest for the river in that area is 14.8 feet but the projection for this week in southern Adams County is higher than it has been for at least the last seven years.
The National Weather Service stated the rain has caused extensive inundation of the land and many primary roads and bridges are closed especially with more heavy rains expected this week.
The Adams County Highway Department reported their supply of “road closed” signs is close to being empty. The list of roads being shuttered continued to grow as the day went on Wednesday.
The Adams County Sheriff’s Department confirmed that at least two vehicular accidents occurred in Adams County Tuesday with injuries sustained in both mishaps. Final reports were not available at press deadline but both occurred when vehicles drove into ponds of water covering the road. More details of the mishaps will be in the Thursday edition of the Daily Democrat.
Tracy Warner, a spokesperson for Indiana and Michigan Electric Company in Fort Wayne, reported no outages were noted as a result of Monday’s storm in Adams County.