The Daily Journal of Johnson County
Saturday, June 7
Rain that started Friday evening turned into a downpour overnight, and residents woke up to roads and yards with standing water.
The rain kept falling, and soon waterways were jumping their banks, bridges were swamped and residents found themselves stranded in their homes. Some also became stranded in vehicles when they tried to drive through deep standing water.
Johnson County was experiencing a flood the likes of which it possibly had never seen.
By 9 a.m., county emergency management agency director Forrest "Tug" Sutton said the situation was dire and probably the worst natural disaster in the history of the county.
Fire departments rescued residents in boats in all corners of Johnson County, and Franklin was sliced in two by the flooding downtown. The entire city was inaccessible from nearly every direction because of flooded roads.
The rain didn't leave any corner of the county untouched. Residents in the Center Grove area, Edinburgh, Amity, Greenwood, Prince's Lakes and rural Trafalgar were trying to escape the high waters.
Children and parents were rescued on boats, sometimes after waiting for hours, and taken to makeshift shelters.
Members of the Indiana National Guard were called to Franklin to help organize and rescue people.
Vehicles were picked up and carried away, and government buildings filled with water.
Roadways and bridges that were washing away stranded residents in parts of Lamb Lake and Prince's Lakes. Helicopters were capturing images of a dam in Prince's Lakes that was overflowing.
The water had come up quickly. In some areas, it overtook vehicles within minutes, first lifting them up, then tossing them over and carrying them into a ball field and down a creek in Franklin. One resident said the water in his home rose 4 feet within an hour. Suddenly he found himself in waist-deep water.
The water level in Youngs Creek was 3.4 feet at 2 a.m. Saturday. But by 1 p.m., a record was set at 14.84 feet.
In the Center Grove area, resident Kim Froman recounted her experience: She was helping a neighbor get his cats and dogs out of the home when a surge of water washed her down the street. A German shepherd had been carried away as well, and they rescued each other.
"He grabbed ahold of me, and we both started kicking," Froman said.
Edinburgh set a statewide record for rainfall: 10.94 inches in a 24-hour period.
By nightfall, downtown Franklin still was under water, and portions were inaccessible by vehicle. National Guard members stood watch at intersections.
The city had never seen devastation on this scale.
Residents were returning to find homes that had filled with water. In some cases, the floors were squishy. In some homes, appliances were floating in basements. In the worst-hit homes, floodwater mixed with sewage and chemicals filled the first-floor living areas.
No one knew what to do. Dozens of residents stayed at a shelter in Greenwood. Some slept in their cars. In one case where their cars had been swept away as well, two people slept on the sidewalk.
Sunday, June 8
In Franklin, the water had receded in many areas, and residents ventured back to their homes. Inside, they found a stinky, thick muck that covered their belongings. Everything was wet.
House by house, residents began carrying out their possessions.
Photo albums. Electronics. Clothes. Tables. Chairs. Mattresses. Knick-knacks. Everything was ruined.
Then out came the flooring.
Flood victims started gutting their homes, and the first step was to see if anything could be salvaged and get the items out.
In Lamb Lake, a road was washed away, and some residents could get to and from their homes only by boat.
In Prince's Lakes, one damaged bridge and one destroyed bridge left 300 residents wondering how they were going to get around. The military set up a temporary walkway, but no vehicle traffic was allowed.
The Franklin Police Department began surveying the damage to its headquarters. The building needed to be gutted; police officers would have to be stationed somewhere else. The Oren Wright Building, which houses some county government offices, had been filled with 7 feet of water. Everything was ruined.
Flood buckets were being assembled. Industrial-sized trash bins were in demand. Residents were learning about ways to freeze their important papers or photos in hopes of saving them.
The Red Cross started preparing hundreds of meals and driving up and down the streets of damaged communities, announcing on a loudspeaker that warm meals were being served for victims.
The lingering question for many was this: Without flood insurance to pay for the damage, how will I repair my home? And where do I live in the meantime?
In Edinburgh and in Bluff Acres in the Center Grove area, there still was standing water.
And it wasn't just rainwater. The toxic stew included sewage, dead fish and chemicals.
The power of the water had washed out, eroded or damaged nearly 70 roads across the county. In many communities, the water wasn't safe to drink.
That evening, President Bush made a declaration that allowed local governments to get federal assistance in providing people with temporary shelter, food and water.
Monday, June 9
The scope of the devastation started to reveal itself 48 hours after the flood.
Residents who had been working in bacteria- and sewage-infested waters would need tetanus shots. Bottled water stations needed to be set up. Trains stopped moving through the county because the earth below the tracks had been washed away in some spots.
Residents wondered when work crews would come by to help them rip ruined drywall out of their homes. They wondered when they would get money to help them buy food, get some clothes to replace their ruined wardrobes and repair their homes.
Mold likely already was growing; residents needed help.
They were waiting for the next presidential disaster that would bring Federal Emergency Management Agency workers to the area and allow residents to apply for loans or grants to rebuild.
All along the streets, pumps sucked water out of basements and spit it out.
Trash bins were being filled faster than trucks could empty and return them as flood victims found themselves throwing away nearly every belonging.
Floodwaters still were standing in Edinburgh, as the town's stormwater system couldn't catch up with the amount of water flowing into the storm sewers.
In Prince's Lakes, the only way for some residents to get in or out was by walking or having someone take them in golf carts or small off-road vehicles, as the bridge was not safe for vehicles.
With no place else to turn, some residents were paying out of their pockets to stay in hotels because their homes were uninhabitable.
In Edinburgh, floodwaters still were coming into the home of Nick Jiles.
"The work I can do myself," Jiles said about repairing his home after the waters receded. "It's the money that's going to stop me."
Displaced county offices were working to find temporary space and get back to business.
Health officials were warning people about the water and the filth that stayed behind, which was being compared to water in an unflushed toilet. Tetanus shots were being recommended, and residents were advised to wear gloves when cleaning their homes.
Tuesday, June 10
The flood destroyed Don Hill's mobile home, and he had nowhere to go, except his van.
The Friendly Village resident said he lost just about everything in the flood and his home, with warped and bumpy floors, destroyed appliances and furniture, was beyond repair.
He didn't want to take space away from women and children in a shelter, so he slept in his van.
Across the county, residents were tired and overwhelmed from constant cleanup, reminding them of what they had lost.
They also were angry. Angry at gawkers who drove by just to see the damage and watch them clean.
Some had barely anything left.
Bertha Bailey of Edinburgh and her husband, Harold, lost their most treasured possessions when floodwaters rushed through their Pruitt East home: keepsakes of two of their sons who were killed in a car accident 17 years ago.
She said that she wept for more than a day when she realized she had little left of her sons Jamie and Harold, who were 21 and 17 when they died.
"I can't cry anymore," she said. "I can't physically cry anymore."
As hundreds mourned their lost possessions and ruined homes, Mayor Fred Paris warned Franklin residents not to wait for federal aid. Money from federal agencies might take months, so he urged residents to help gut and clean each other's homes.
He spent the first few days after the flood with his cell phone practically glued to his ear taking city employee requests and orders.
Paris' phone rang at least every five minutes, his voice mail filled quickly. Phone numbers were written on his hand and arm when he couldn't find paper.
The mayor's top priorities were helping people with housing and cleanup, while trying to get the city running again so residents can pay traffic tickets and see police cars patrolling the streets. Helping people is the most important and most difficult job, he said.
Federal Emergency Management Agency representatives walked around with city and U.S. Small Business Administration workers assessing homes in the Franklin area south of Greenlawn Cemetery, where dozens of homes were damaged from high floodwaters.
Paris had early estimates for home damage in Franklin: 450 structures and housing units. He believed 150 were on the city's south side, 150 in Parkside Apartments and another 150 in pockets throughout the city, with as many as 50 a total loss.
He looked to the community and local nonprofit agencies for help providing housing, asking that owners of vacant rental homes, homes or apartment units offer available housing to residents who are homeless because of flood damage.
One group, People Helping People, roamed the flood-damaged streets passing out meals and cold drinks.
Franklin College let people stay in dormitories for three or four weeks, but some people would need shelter for longer than that.
"The most critical (need) has got to be housing, getting people into homes so they don't have to leave the city," Paris said.
Wednesday, June 11
President Bush approved federal assistance for homeowners, renters and businesses late in the evening.
Assistance included grants for temporary housing and home repairs, low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses and other programs to help individuals and business owners recover from the effects of the disaster.
Before Bush's announcement, it was unclear when FEMA workers would come back to the county.
Workers assessed damage in Franklin but did not visit the Center Grove area or Edinburgh.
During their visit, some local officials complained about poor communication with the federal agency and county emergency management. Some officials didn't wait for federal help to arrive and took action of their own, and victims grew tired of waiting for help.
Franklin Fire Chief Jim Reese was supposed to be contacted by FEMA workers when they got in town Tuesday, and he and his firefighters planned to take the federal representatives around and show them the damage.
Reese sent firefighters and building inspectors out to assess without the federal workers and later learned from firefighters FEMA already was in the city.
A FEMA representative said he didn't know for sure what happened and that the state was in charge of connecting FEMA with local officials.
While federal, state and local officials tried to coordinate efforts, others grew more tired of scavengers and gawkers.
Timothy Norton and Rick Ford placed a homemade sign on Hemphill Street in Franklin shutting off the street to cut down on people checking out the flood damage. Others were viewing the piles of ruined goods sitting outside homes as fair game.
The activity was slowing down trucks and haulers residents needed to clean up days before.
The glut of cars was not as bad as previous days, a blessing for residents struggling to rebuild, Norton said.
"It gives us room to maneuver," he said.
The police department's ice machine was stolen when it was left outside to dry, and police blamed scavengers who scour through piles of trash and scrap and take whatever they want.
Greenwood officials estimated that $75,000 to $100,000 of damage was done to three Greenwood parks in floodplains, while the community center came out with little damage.
Greenwood Public Library, a short distance from the overflowing Pleasant Creek, lost 21 computers and some recently acquired books.
In Franklin, dozens of people lined up outside the Artcraft Theatre for a free tetanus shot.
"It's just sad," Franklin resident Ellen Mae Paris said. "It's a little overwhelming."
Thursday, June 12
A first-look estimate showed that flooding hit at least 800 structures countywide and caused more than $100 million in damage. Officials expected that number could double with more information.
The estimates, done with a federal computer program, came on a day when standing water still surrounded homes in Edinburgh, five days after the flood.
Residents struggled with feelings of loss and continued to clean up their homes.
Edinburgh resident Stacey Tucker watched floodwater come into his home Sunday, when water started moving downhill. After pumping for days, he hadn't made any progress and watched the water spill into a pool that crosses the street, lapping in waves against the side of his home.
"I wish I could tell you that my faith has been a rock through this whole ordeal, but it had me pretty down. But my faith's back, and I'm hoping and praying. But it's hard to see the water eroding away at 20 years of your life like this," Tucker said.
Aid began arriving in the county, including a small piece of relief in the form of an air-conditioned tent set up for flood victims in Franklin.
Temperatures had risen into the 80s, and Franklin Fire Chief Jim Reese had been asking for an air-conditioned tent for people spending their days in the hot sun, breathing in stench from water-logged furniture, carpeting and other possessions.
The tent came along with medics who would check residents' blood pressure or look someone over if they became ill.
Thursday also was the opening day for the donation center in Franklin.
Thirty people dropped off donations, including furniture, dishes, new mattress sets and children's toys. By early evening, about 20 mattresses were stacked near couches, furniture and knick-knacks.
Help poured in from around the area, including church members from Plainfield United Methodist Church who made make-shift tables.
Fewer than 10 people came to get donated items, but volunteer and center coordinator Larry Nun wasn't surprised, saying people needed to figure out where they are staying before they get donated furniture and dishes.
But more was to come.
The American Red Cross opened five service centers throughout the state, but none was in Johnson County. The sites opened Thursday in Terre Haute, West Terre Haute, Martinsville, Columbus and Spencer.
Officials said the locations were picked because they had the most people affected.
Case workers would meet victims at the centers to discuss their needs, including housing, and help them develop recovery plans.
Friday, June 13
A dose of déjà vu hit Franklin, as more than 2 inches of rain fell on the city, overwhelming nearly filled storm sewers and pouring back into the homes of exhausted residents still tearing out carpet and drywall.
Water rose thigh-high north of downtown in less than two hours, and residents rushed to move trash cans, furniture and any debris they could to block intersections from trucks that sent waves of water crashing into homes.
The high-water signs were dragged out again. People sandbagged around Johnson Memorial Hospital, and a police car got stuck on a flooded Franklin street.
The storm was brief, mostly flooding streets, but it was eerily familiar and frustrating to residents who rushed to their basements and crawlspaces to see water rising again.
Lightning strikes also caused two house fires in Franklin, including one where fire engulfed the second story.
"Mother Nature's been just wicked to us," said Lisa Dale, whose home on Herriott Street was one of a few to be spared the previous weekend's flooding only to be severely damaged after the lightning strike.
In the same storm, straight-line winds and hail blew through Needham Township, ripping off barn roofs, uprooting trees and tearing down powerlines.
Much of the damage appeared to be in a line from State Road 144 at the east edge of Bargersville through Franklin to Needham Township, according to emergency management.
The day was sunny before the storm as a total of 50 people had donated furniture, a television, lamps and other items to the donation center, the second day it was open.
An $80,000 shipment came in from catalog retailer Redcats USA, including bedding, dressers, cabinets and linens. Two more trucks were ready once the first shipment was delivered.
And county religious leaders prepared their weekend sermons for the second Sunday after the flood.
They planned to include lessons about God and the kindness of others after the flooding and to make a call for volunteers to go out into the community and help.
Saturday, June 14
For a week, flood victims had cried out for help.
On June 14, help came in the form of a disaster recovery center, which opened on the campus of Franklin College.
This was planned as a one-stop center where flood victims could go for assistance with a broad range of issues, from money for food to temporary shelter at a hotel.
FEMA, the Red Cross, the Small Business Administration and other agencies were set up at the recovery center Saturday afternoon expecting a huge line waiting outside.
But when they opened the doors at noon, only a few people were sitting on the bench outside the door.
By the end of the day, only 20 families had been helped.
One of these people, Don Hill, was provided with three nights at a hotel and money for food.
But the problem was this: his mobile home in Friendly Village was destroyed and three nights was not enough to figure out where he was going to live.
And he could not afford a prolonged hotel stay on his own. He had no family he could stay with. The Greenwood temporary shelter was closing. He was worried he would have to sleep in a tent on his porch after his three nights were up.
Meanwhile volunteers were gathering at their new headquarters, which also was at Franklin College's Dietz Center. The headquarters, which was moved from the InterChurch Food Pantry, served to coordinate volunteers from local neighborhoods and those who came from out of state.
National agencies such as Points of Light and the AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps started working by sending volunteers to the headquarters and donations center.
AmeriCorps planned to stay for 30 days.
At least one volunteer did not realize the volunteer headquarters had moved Saturday morning and became frustrated when he could not find out where volunteers should go.
Indianapolis resident Phil Campbell drove to the InterChurch Food Pantry but was told to go to Franklin College. He went to the disaster recovery center at the college but the officials there did not realize the new headquarters was at the Dietz Center.
"It's a little frustrating," he said as he was leaving the recovery center. "All I really want to do is help, in anyway I can."