Indianapolis, Indiana (July 18, 2015) – Flash flooding and severe storms ripped through Marion County Friday night, creating another big mess for several homeowners and businesses.
Homeowners were up for hours trying to stop the water from entering their homes. South side resident Barb Kennedy tells FOX59 she was crouched next to the sump pump all night working hard to pump several inches of rain water from her property line.
“There is no way a home owner should have to stay up for 24 hours to watch their property and have three ump pumps going in the middle of their driveway to save their house,” says Kennedy.
Nearly 3.5 inches of rain fell at a fast pace Friday night. The rain water moved at a very fast pace, appearing to have rapids. Eventually, the rain water overflowed out of nearby ditches and into several homes.
“You just take a lot of towels and buckets. Then squeeze the towels out,” says Vickie McDerment.
Flooding like this has happened repeatedly in the Southside neighborhood.
Residents say they have lost thousands of dollars and irreplaceable items from the flooding.
“I would hate to even guess. You could not even estimate it, you could not put a price on it,” says Kennedy.
While residents on the South East side of Indianapolis were using sump pumps and bailing buckets of water out of their homes. Twenty people shopping at the nearby Kroger on Kentucky Avenue were evacuated from after several inches of water entered the store.
“It just started coming up over the creek and started filling the Kroger store and then filling the parking lot,” says Megan Thiele of the Decatur Township Fire Department.
Emergency crews went door to door checking on people who were dealing with massive flooding in homes behind the Kroger. Five people were rescued using emergency crews on boats and rafts.
“Some of the residents did decide to shelter in place, we did have five people that we evacuated to the Red Cross for the evening,” says Thiele.
Residents blame the City of Indianapolis for the drainage issues and flooding damage.
“The furnaces are under water, the washer, the dryer, the deep freezer, everything is floating and all they say is sorry,” says Kennedy.
As residents continue to check their sump pumps, clean up, and write yet another check to fix the damage. More rain could be on the way.
“If it starts raining again like Friday night, we will call for our command vehicle and start putting people in logistical locations very quickly,” says Thiele.
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