Nathan Risen, the manager of East Washington Rural Water Corporation, said more customers have water tonight and there is hopes of returned all customers service by Monday morning.
There is still a boil water advisory for about 750 customers of the East Washington Rural Water Corporation, according to EWRWC Manager Nathan Risen.
“We ran another line across the spillway today and we are able to pump more water now,” Risen said Sunday evening. “There are still customers without water, but I am hopeful most everyone will have water by [Monday] morning.”
Risen said customers with accounts starting with 41 and 42 are advised to boil their water until further notice.
A boil-water advisory is a public health advisoryor directive given by government or health authorities to consumers when a community’s drinking water is, or could be, contaminated by pathogens.
The water that comes out of the tap should not be used for drinking, brushing your teeth, cooking or washing fruits and vegetables and should be boiled
Bring water to a rolling boil for a minimum of one minute.
When it cools, refrigerate the water in clean containers.
A pinch of salt per quart may improve the rather flat taste of boiled water.
Risen said there are many customers without water today, but did not give a number.
“We ran a temporary line across the spillway and got some water into the system [Saturday] night,” he said. “We are going to run another line to try and get some more water to our tower [Sunday]”
If you do not want to boil your water, you can disinfect it by adding 1/8 teaspoon of bleach (common household bleach containing 5.25 percent sodium hypochlorite) per gallon of water. Do not use bleach containing perfume, dyes, or other additives.
It is not necessary to boil tap water used for other household purposes, such as showering, laundry, or bathing.
Adults, teens, and older children can wash, bathe, or shower; however, they should avoid swallowing the water.
These security images show flooding water at the Salem Middle School
Last Friday night, rain water was pouring into the Salem Middle School so fast, the entire basement filled with water in approximately four minutes.
School board members met in a special meeting at 5p and decided to close the school for a day on Monday to continue to move forward with repairs and get the school ready for students.
Jennifer Lawyer, Dean of the middle school, put together a time line from security footage.
“We had a call from the security company letting us know the pumps were running between 5 and 5:20p,” said Lawyer. “At that time they were operating properly. At around 6:09, they went off again.”
“The video is only about five minutes because everything happened in five minutes,” Lawyer said, between 6:09 and 6:16p.
Lawyer detailed three camera views — the north dock area, the parking lot by the new gym and another camera that came on in the basement at 6:10p and showed the room being flooded over the next six minutes until it lost power and shut off.
The water flowed across the parking lot, which was fed from streaming water across the field to the west of the Middle School, across North Harrison Street and over the top and through the retaining wall.
The water sped across the parking lot and along the lower ramp of the basement up to the basement door and under the door.
“It was filling pretty fast,” said Lawyer. “You’ll see a second surge come through when the retaining wall broke.”
At that point, the room filled with about 12-15 feet of water and also flooded the stairwell back towards the dock of the school.
The only camera lost was the one in the basement became submerged.
Board President Mark Abbott outlined the damage at the school.
JD Wade Swift who is in charge of the pool at the middle school said flood water came into the pool along with debris through the drain.
“We’ve cleaned that up and the robots are in the pool cleaning that up,” he said. “We lost chemicals that were stored in the basement. But we’ll be getting more tomorrow.”
The basement area contained classrooms, storage, electrical room, an elevator and restroom. Don Burton’s classroom was ruined along with many other items in the basement.
The HVAC system can be salvaged but according Jason Wilson, a rep from ServPro, it will be a week or so before it can be worked on.
The focus has been removing the damaged debris from the flooded rooms.
“Very thankful for everyone who jumped in to try and save things,” said Scott Martin, head janitor at the middle school.
Additional damage was at the girls’ softball field. A storage building there was damaged along with the fence around the field.
The practice football field was damaged, along with equipment and storage.
The high school baseball field had damage from flooded storage areas and some minor damage to the field.
The high school soccer field was damaged along with parts of the walking trail, which Superintended DL Reed said was the City of Salem’s responsibility.
There was water damage at the school’s bus shed along with damage to the parking lot pavement.
Wilson said ServPro has been working over the past 48 hours to to remove debris from the basement area. Water has been pumped out and now the work of drying and disinfecting has begun to remove mold and allergens.
The only safety concerns the board had was with air quality. The HVAC system will be sealed so allergens will not spread from that room into the rest of the school.
As far as transportation to the area, most of the outlying areas in the county weren’t affected with flooding. Those areas that were, have been cleaned up.
As far as students living along High Street, Reed said “If your road has power lines still down, your student will be excused if they cannot meet the driver at the end of the street.”
“We will pick up students who live on blocked area of High Street on Main Street,” said Reed. “We will tell drivers to watch for kids at each intersection.”
Additionally, the middle school choir concert for Monday night has been cancelled.
Last night at approximately 7:30, Trooper Ross Rafferty was patrolling US 41 when he stopped the driver of a gray 2004 Ford Fusion for following another vehicle too closely near C.R. 350 N.
The driver was identified as Rochelle Brewster, 46, of Merrillville, IN.
During the traffic stop a K-9 alerted to the presence of .
Officers found approximately 4 ounces of Heroin in her coat pocket.
She was arrested and taken to the Gibson County Jail where she is currently being held on bond.
Assisting Agencies: Princeton Police and Gibson County Sheriff’s Department
According to Salem Community Development Director Greg Fitzloff, paperwork has been signed and turned in from local officials to the State of Indiana so the process of declaring Salem as a disaster area can be declared by Indiana’s Governor Eric Holcomb.
“Both the city and county have applied to the governor’s office for him to declare a State of Emergency in Salem in the affected area,” said Fitzloff. “We should know something soon about that.”
State Representative Steve Davisson and Indiana Senator Erin Houchin were on the Main Street Bridge yesterday to assess damage.
Salem Community Development Director Greg Fitzloff talks with members of the Salem City Council and Board of Works along with Salem Mayor Troy Merry yesterday morning.
Jason Cockeril, a rep for US Representative Trey Hollingsworth came by Saturday morning to pledge support. Hollingsworth himself stopped by later in the afternoon.
Fitzloff said local businesses and residents who were affected by Friday’s flooding should first contact their insurance companies.
“That’s the first order of business,” he said. “Let them come in and make assessments on loss and get that taken care of.”
For those who didn’t have insurance or who did not have flood insurance, the state and federal aid will be coming soon.
“Once the state signs off, it will allow the federal agencies to begin to take a look and see what they can offer,” he said.
“I talked with the Department of Homeland Security and they are in contact with Desi [Alexander],” said Fitzloff. “They specifically will work with the Small Business Administration to give assistance.”
He said the devastation has been limited to mainly businesses but has also affected some homeowners.
“El Camino had just received their weekly shipment of supplies on Friday,” he noted. “That’s all gone.”
Miller Hardware and Salem Lumber both were flooded and lost most of their stock.
Joe Kacknavage said Friday night the water was at least six feet inside his business on Water Street.
Saturday gave most of the business owners a chance to get back into their businesses after the flooding and most were busy scraping out mud, throwing out wet carpet and assessing damage.
“What i would tell anyone,” said Fitzloff. “Give it a day or two for the information to go from local to state to federal and those agencies will be in a better position to let us know what is covered and what is not. We’ll be meeting hopefully Monday and will have more information then.”
Fitzloff also said Monday would see a full assessment of Salem’s wastewater treatment plant.
“The wastewater treatment plant is back in operation and we’ll have our engineers and IDEM will be in town to do a full assessment on Monday morning. It’s operational. Capacity wise and things we might have to clean out,” he said.
Salem has not had to issue a boil water advisory for it’s water system because the pipes held their pressure and there were no line breaks.
“If you’re without water, without electricity and your building is flooded, it’s tough,” said Fitzloff. “But we’re doing everything possible to get that corrected as soon as possible. By tomorrow people are going to have a much better idea of what is needed.”
There will be an emergency meeting of the Salem Community School’s Board of Trustees this afternoon at 5p at the Salem Middle School.
The purpose of the meeting is to discuss the repairs and clean up of the middle school after Friday night’s flooding.
Officials have also closed the school for at least this Monday. The affects Grades 6, 7 and 8.
This football equipment was washed from the practice football field and snarled in this bridge over the walking trail near Salem Middle School.
Flood waters swelled from nearby Brock Creek and flooded and damaged the nearby girls’ softball field and also water streaming across a nearby field flooded the basement level of the school.
So much so that water was escaping through cracks around basement windows and external air vents.
Water flooded the bus compound near Salem High School. Buses were moved out of the way but water still streamed from the west across North Harrison Street and across to Brock Creek.
School Board President Mark Abbott said the school’s bus compound was flooded from Brock Creek.
“We were lucky to get the buses out,” said Abbott. “We got most of those out. Joe England and staff got right on that.”
Flooding also damaged or destroyed most of the school’s sports areas.
“Looks like we lost the soccer field, the football practice field, definitely the [girls’] softball field. Who knows what else…things are damaged down by the baseball field.”
Salem Middle School Principal Ray Oppel said this was the worst flooding he’s seen at the school since he’s been there.
Rushing water ate away at the embankment against the west wall of the new gym at the Salem Middle School and buckled part of the retaining wall during Friday’s flooding.
“So far we’ve looked in the basement and it’s completely flooded,” Oppel noted. “Probably 15 feet of water. The retaining wall to the North by the new gym — it took that out and washed tons of gravel down into the parking lot. I think the water came so fast and so quickly, there was no way our drains could take it.”
Oppel pointed to the East — “You can see the softball field. Probably the worse I’ve seen it since I’ve been here. Back in 09, we had some flooding that took out the softball field…but nothing like this.”
“The basement will be completely wiped out. Everything down there will be completely destroyed,” said Oppel.
The Main Street bridge is now open in Salem after work was done yesterday morning to inspect the bridge.
Workers also brought in a large crane yesterday to move the large fuel tanks away from the bridge, and also attempted to move the tractor trailers from the river.
Leo Rumschlag, Washington County’s contracted bridge engineer said the South Main Street bridge suffered only cosmetic damage from the tanks that crashed into it during Friday night’s flash flood.
“The bridge is in good shape,” he said.
It will be reopened when the semi trailers are removed from the creek, an ongoing effort.
He said the bridge on Old State Road 56 west of Elk Road was damaged but should be repaired sometime on Saturday.
Washington County Commissioner Phil Marshal said one of the fuel tank’s that were swept away from Cornerstone Family Farms is located in a logjam near Beck’s Mill bridge and that removal was being planned out. He said they were afraid another heavy rain would cause it to possibly crash into the bridge.
About 4:30 p.m. Saturday two of the large fuel tanks that crashed into the South Main Street bridge were removed.
A third tank was pulled out of the creek where it came to rest behind Goody’s.
Work will continue today to remove the tractor trailers from the bridge so Duke Energy can repair the 3-phase power in the area.
The recent flooding has provided some record and near record totals for Salem.
Swirling flood waters moved this car downstream on Blue River west of Salem.
WSLM RADIO reported their rainfall totals to the National Weather Service of Louisville on Friday.
According to station owner Becky White, the WSLM WEATHER STATION measured 5.58 inches in about an hour on Friday afternoon.
“The rain was coming down in sheets,” said White. “Then there was hail, more rain and hail again.”
That amount of rain was enough to swell Brock Creek and Blue River and other small creeks that raised the flood level to 18 feet in Salem, which was a foot above the 2004 flood.
According to the US Geological Survey, the Blue River at Salem, IN crested at 20.15 feet just after midnight Friday.
This beats the old record stage for the site by 3 feet
There is a boil water advisory for about 750 customers of the East Washington Rural Water Corporation, according to EWRWC Manager Nathan Risen.
Risen said customers with accounts starting with 41 and 42 are advised to boil their water until further notice.
A boil-water advisory is a public health advisoryor directive given by government or health authorities to consumers when a community’s drinking water is, or could be, contaminated by pathogens.
The water that comes out of the tap should not be used for drinking, brushing your teeth, cooking or washing fruits and vegetables and should be boiled
Bring water to a rolling boil for a minimum of one minute.
When it cools, refrigerate the water in clean containers.
A pinch of salt per quart may improve the rather flat taste of boiled water.
Risen said there are many customers without water today, but did not give a number.
“We ran a temporary line across the spillway and got some water into the system last night,” he said. “We are going to run another line to try and get some more water to our tower today.”
If you do not want to boil your water, you can disinfect it by adding 1/8 teaspoon of bleach (common household bleach containing 5.25 percent sodium hypochlorite) per gallon of water. Do not use bleach containing perfume, dyes, or other additives.
It is not necessary to boil tap water used for other household purposes, such as showering, laundry, or bathing.
Adults, teens, and older children can wash, bathe, or shower; however, they should avoid swallowing the water.
Utility poles along High Street in Salem were snapped off from the weight of the water pressure pulling on the lines.This semi-truck and trailer was moved in the swirling flood.Danny Walton, owner of Guitar Strings and Things and Danny’s Heating and Cooling, said he lost three trucks in the flood. He found one down river surrounded by water and gravel.This car and three semi trailers were swept down river.These fuel tanks – which were empty – swept into the bridge on Main Street.Washington County Council member Ben Bowling talks with Jason Cockerill, one of US Represenative Trey Hollinsworth’s team, as well as Washington County Commissioners Preston Shell and Phil Marshall.Washington County Emergency Management Agency Director Desi Alexander talks with state EMA personnel.Rain fell last night – 6 inches in about 45 minutes, which caused Blue River to swell to a new 100-year high of 18 feet.
Friday night was scheduled to be one of celebration in Salem, with the annual Friday Night on the Square festival.
But it ended in chaos as 18 feet of water flooded three main areas of the city — Water Street, East Market Street and Main Street in the city, bringing ruined businesses, no electricity and millions of dollars in damage due to flash flooding along Brock Creek and Blue River.
Heavy thunderstorms moved into the area and dumped nearly six inches of rain within 45 minutes.
According to the US Geological Survey, Blue River crested last night at 18 feet at 8:15p.
That’s almost a foot above the last major flood from Blue River, which swelled its banks in 2004 to a whopping 17.1 feet.
“It wasn’t looking good for the festival,” said Becky White, WSLM owner who was planning on bringing her KARAOKE LIVE to the annual event. “We – along with many other organizations and businesses – had been getting ready all morning and when the weather warnings broke out, it was pretty clear the festival was going to be cancelled.”
With severe thunderstorm warnings cropping up over much of the WSLM LISTENING AREA, tornadoes were also spotted in English and Jefferson County, IN.
Many feel this is worse than the Flood of 2004, in which cars were swept off Water Street and several businesses were ruined.
White said the station’s weather equipment measured around 6″ of total rainfall for the day, bringing the total for May up to over 10 inches.
Danny Walton, who owns and operates Danny’s Heating and Air Conditioning, which is near Blue River, said his business is a loss.
“This is way worse than what was the 100 year flood ten years ago,” said Walton. “This is like a 1000 year flood! I looked out the door at one point, and one of my trucks was gone. We lost everything in the building. We lost three trucks.”
Walton said they were swept down Blue River, along with semi-trucks from a nearby lot, and all of that is now stuck under the Main Street bridge.
One of his trucks was spotted this morning, about a quarter-mile west of his store; sunk in deep and surrounded by Blue River’s gravel down to the window line.
Walton also owns Guitars Strings and Things and said a lot of the equipment is ruined, as well as his air conditioning equipment.
“I kept working and saw water coming under the door,” Walton said. “I had 3-4 feet of water in the building and had to call 911. I didn’t want to open the door until I saw what it was like.”
Joe Kacknavage, owner of Salem Lumber, was in good spirits late in the evening, watching the surrounding lumber bob in the water.
“We’re about six foot under water,” he said. “Back in 2004, we got up to about four feet. All the way through the store – we had lumber floating down the creek…over a six foot fence.”
Kacknavage said he was at home doing chores and by the time he got back to the store it was too late. “I can’t get in. It’ll be down in the morning. We’ll have lumber up and down the street. It will be scattered everywhere. It’s done. We’ve lost everything at the feed mill — bagged feed and everything. There will be people in here Saturday morning but we can’t help them.”
Other businesses along Water Street and Main Street were flooded, including the lot containing El Camino, Subway and others.
SEARCH AND RESCUE
Emergency workers in southern Indiana converged on Salem to rescue people from high water.
There have been no injuries reported so far, but crews made several water rescues.
“It just rained and rained and rained, and next thing you know, this is what you got,” said Salem Mayor Troy Merry. “It’s a heartbreaking situation, but we will get through it.”
He said there were no mandatory evacuations at this point, but there was a travel advisory in place. People were being asked not to leave their homes Friday night.
People were circulating that Washington County was under a state of emergency Friday evening about 7p.
WSLM contacted Desi Alexander, Washington County Emergency Management Agency Director and she clarified that the City of Salem and other areas were under an Emergency Travel Restriction.
“Basically, we were trying to get everyone off the roads for their protection and so emergency personnel could get around,” she said this morning. “It’s still a good idea to stay home and stay out of the way of emergency workers.”
Indiana Department of Homeland Security said a travel warning had been issued for the area. A travel warning is the highest level of local travel advisory. It means that travel can be restricted to emergency responders only.
Indiana DHS is asking that people in that area:
Refrain from all travel;
Comply with necessary emergency measures;
Cooperate with public officials and disasters services forces in executing emergency operations plans; and
Obey and comply with the lawful directions of properly identified officers.
Water rescues were underway last night at several places around the county, including on Elizabeth Street. The Indiana Department of Natural Resources used an air boat to help those stranded in their homes to get out.
CLEANING UP
Duke Energy stayed on the scene trying to get power back to what their outtage map website showed at one time to be around 1,700 people.
This morning, Chip Orban, Duke Energy Government and Community Relations spokesperson, said the flooding put pressure on lines in the city which snapped several poles.
“We’re got about 650 without power as of now,” Organ said about 9:30a.
He said there were outside contracts, some from as far away as 300 miles, in Salem working to get the power back on.
“We’re trying to isolate [the problem] around the bridge and pick up as many people as we can,” Orban said.
Officials estimate there is millions of dollars in damage.
Walking along Blue River and High Street, workers moved in early to cut trees out of the way so power lines could be repaired.
Dozens of power poles along High Street are snapped off and lay in the street, on top of each other and in one case on one home.
“Before we can energize power back, we have to get the tanks out [from around the bridge], said Washington County Commissioner Phil Marshall. “They were empty and there’s nothing hazardous there. Duke wants to clear out the trees and the two semi-trailers out.”
Two semi-trailers were swept into to the bridge. Both are filled with wet recycled paper, which ads thousands of pounds to the weight of the trailers.
Marshall said large cranes were on the way to pull them out.
“The three phase line has to be rebuilt back to the bridge. It’s going to be two days to get this built back to here. Most of the town is own. Getting it all to mesh together is the big issue,” said Marshall.
Jason Cockerill was on the scene, reaching out on behalf of US Representative Trey Hollingsworth.
Cockerill said the federal money would come when the State of Indiana issued a disaster declaration. Once that was done, then federal monies could and would be released.
Commissioner Rick Roberts said it’s a Catch 22 situation. “We want to clear all of this up, but the disaster monies (which pay 75 percent and we pay 25 percent) only kick in once they have granted the money. Any work we do before that is on Washington County. We have to play by their rules.”
Washington County Council member Ben Boling was on hand to let the commissioners know that whatever was spent in the clean up would be approved.
The American Red Cross is in town and going door to door to both residents and businesses to begin assessing the damage.
Several churches and organizations have reached out to help, including the Care Pregnancy Center and the Washington County Family YMCA serving food in the afternoon.
The Y has also opened its facilities up to those needing showers and somewhere to go while the flood waters recede.
Marshall said their bridge engineer had checked the bridge at Main Street and said it was structurally in good shape.
When the tanks and semi trucks struck the bridge, they demolished a portion of the railing on the east side of the bridge.
It will remain closed until the electric service is repaired.
High Street, parts of Old State Road 60 and Main Street remain closed in spots to local traffic.
In case any business or resident needs to reach Duke Energy, their emergency contact number is 1.800.343.3525
