A multi-day onslaught of severe storms and historic flooding has left seven people dead and hundreds of structures impacted across Indiana, triggering widespread destruction, water rescues, mass power outages and imminent structural threats.
Since storms lashed the state starting on Aug. 11, at least seven people have died due to storm-related incidents, the Indiana State Emergency Operations Center (SEOC) confirmed.
While comprehensive information on some of the victims remains limited, the SEOC has confirmed deaths across multiple counties, including a 19-year-old man and a 58-year-old woman in Delaware County, a 4-year-old boy in Jennings County, two women in Lake and Porter counties, a man in LaPorte County, and a 31-year-old man in New Castle.
Detailing that Henry County tragedy, Carmel City Council member Adam Aasen explained, “Early Sunday morning… [he] on a bicycle rode past flood barricades and fell into a hole where the road had collapsed. He died.”
Indiana Governor Mike Braun also declared a state of emergency to secure additional resources for the catastrophic devastation.
Hamilton County officials said hundreds of structures have been impacted by the flooding. Authorities said their goal is now assessment, recovery and reconstruction.
Following a briefing with Mayor Finkam and her team, Carmel City Council member Adam Aasen noted that the bridge just south of 106th on Hazel Dell appears to be a total loss.
It collapsed as a result of rising floodwaters. Because the bridges fall under county jurisdiction, Hamilton County will lead the replacement, which officials warn will be very costly and take months to complete.
Flash Flood Emergencies were issued last Wednesday across east-central Indiana as torrential rainfall caused life-threatening flash flooding throughout the region.
That flooding followed a destructive derecho on Tuesday, which the FOX Forecast Center confirmed brought 90 to 100 mph winds and stretched at least 250 miles long and 60 miles wide across northern Indiana.
Destructive winds within the system reached 90 to 100 mph across northern Indiana, while the National Weather Service reported that more than 11 inches of rain fell in parts of central Indiana over the course of two days.
This caused the White River to surge, cresting near 25 feet in Anderson and Noblesville. Local reports indicate this surpassed the previous record of 23.6 feet set in March 1913.
The rising waters forced hundreds of evacuations across Delaware County, particularly along the river in Muncie.
The extreme water levels also caused significant infrastructure damage. On Saturday, the Indianapolis Department of Public Works warned of an imminent structural failure at multiple buildings due to erosion from a severe washout on an Indianapolis roadway.
Recovery efforts remain underway as communities and officials continue to assess and clean up the damage.
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