Flood threat causes people to line up for sandbags
NOBLESVILLE, Ind. (WISH) — Rain all day Friday and the threat of more in central Indiana has people living in flood-prone areas preparing for the worst.
Hamilton County is one of at least five counties in central Indiana offering free sandbags as much of Indiana is under a flash flood watch for most of the weekend.
Hamilton County Emergency Management Officials said they spent much of Friday filling up sandbags. They expect to open from 8 to 10 a.m. Saturday to hand out sandbags and will have inmates helping to fill more after 9 a.m.
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One of those residents expecting flooding, Ted Hines, said, “We just moved there a couple years ago, and I just want to keep the water from getting in the garage and tearing up the foundation and everything.”
Another resident, Becky Keppel, said, “I have always had a crawl space and I’m on a slab now, so I’m thinking I might need it somewhere.”
Shane Booker, executive director of Hamilton County Emergency Management, said Friday the county gave out more than 2,000 sandbags at the Household Hazardous Waste Center in Noblesville.
Booker said Friday afternoon, “We just had fresh sand brought in today. So that’s the pile of sand that you see there in the back, and we have about 10,000 empty sandbags on hand.”
Booker urged people to heed weather warnings. From 3 to 5 inches of rain are expected in central Indiana this weekend. The biggest concern is in low-lying areas.
The emergency management director said, “If we get 6 inches of rain within a 24-48-hour period, that really at times doesn’t have places to go. We can see roads that are washed out, well heads that are damaged, that we normally wouldn’t see with river flooding.”
With many people living in flood-prone areas across central Indiana and most of the area under a flash flood watch for the entire weekend, those battling against a washed-out weekend said it’s better to be safe than sorry.
Hines said, “It’s going to get a lot worse. We were actually supposed to go racing this weekend, and we’re going to get rained out. So, it’s, I think, yeah, everyone is just going to stay home and cuddle up next to the TV.”
Other central Indiana counties offering sandbags include Johnson, Madison, Randolph and Tipton.