Entire town forced out by rising water

EDNA MILLS, Ind. (WISH) - The entire Clinton County town of Edna Mills was evacuated Tuesday due to high water. Chopper 8 flew over the town only to see heavy construction equipment being used to rescue stranded residents.

There is three feet of flowing water in Jerry Barnett's front yard. His neighbors all took what they could and left their Clinton County homes under a voluntary evacuation. But Jerry says he's waiting it out.

“I’ll see how much water is going across that road and then I will make that decision,” said Barnett.

He's talking about State Road 26 that runs right in front of his home. Right now, the water is rushing over State Road 26 and emergency crews have closed the road in both directions.

Edna Mills sits about eight miles east of I-65 in Clinton County. Barnett says he saw some flooding about eight years ago but says this time it's lapping his front porch despite the fact that he built the home higher than his neighbors anticipating possible flooding. He says this time the flooding may be worse than it was eight year ago.

“Now if it gets to four feet they are talking that we possibly get which a officer told me this house is going to get wet. But you are going to see a lot of houses through here that are going to be history.” said Barnett.

However, in the past few hours, Barnett has seen the waters receed about four inches, good news for him and his neighbors.