3 Tri-State counties declared disaster zones due to deadly flooding
As much as a foot of rain fell suddenly late Saturday and early Sunday, killing one and leaving many others without a home.
SWITZERLAND COUNTY, In. (WXIX) - Three southeast Indiana counties are under emergency disaster declarations after catastrophic flooding over Labor Day weekend.
Indiana Department of Homeland Security announced the declarations for Ohio, Jefferson and Switzerland counties Tuesday afternoon.
IDH staff is in the area Tuesday to provide Gov. Eric Holcomb a damage assessment.
IDH’s Emergency Management and Preparedness Division manages damage assessments and coordinates the state’s response to communities that need help responding to disasters. It is empowered to provide equipment, personnel, incident management and other resources to help citizens recover.
The weekend’s storm system killed one woman and caused untold damage for scores of families.
The storm dropped inches of rain across the Tri-State. In Switzerland and Jefferson counties, flash floods overwhelmed creeks, roads and private property.
Switzerland County resident Jeremy Robinson called the situation a “nightmare,” adding that a creek that hadn’t flooded in 30 years overflowed with water. “[I]’s just unimaginable.”
Tara Flint says she got more than 12 inches of rainfall at her home Saturday night.
“I stepped out on the porch, and the water was already to the edge of the road and roaring,” she said. “So I yelled at my husband that we needed to get out of here, but it came up so fast that we couldn’t get out of here.”
Flint and her family watched on a hill in their backyard as the flooding took their home, their barn and their property.
“We just kept focusing on, we’re alive. It was just surreal to see that. In 150 years, the house that we live in has never flooded ever, so this is unprecedented.”
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