Muncie homes flooded and evacuated as heavy rain falls

This story has been updated.

Some Muncie residents have been evacuated from the south side of the city, as the high volume of rain has flooded homes.  Muncie’s mayor says eight inches of rain has fallen, exceeding the record set in 1913.

In a Wednesday morning statement on social media, the city of Muncie said it evacuated neighborhoods from Madison Street east to Hackley Street and Memorial Drive south to 18th Street.  Muncie Fire Department and the American Red Cross helped with the morning and midday effort.

On Thursday morning, Cory Kissick, who leads the Delaware County Emergency Management Agency, said the agency and other first responders “are requesting anybody that lives in floodplain areas, low-lying areas, or their house is currently being affected by flooding, to consider evacuating now and moving to higher ground.”

Delaware County’s website has a map of flood hazard areas, searchable by address.

An overnight and long-term shelter has been set up at Grace Baptist Church at 6401 W. River Rd.

And as more rain is predicted to fall, especially Friday, the agency says, “Residents along the White and Mississinewa Rivers, particularly east of Burlington and south of 12th Street in Muncie, should be prepared for significant flooding.”

Other daytime-only shelters can be found at:

• The Hub, 318 W. 8th St.
• The New Norm, 1127 S. Madison St.
• Price Hall, 704 S. Madison St.
• Buley Center, 1111 N. Penn St.
• Boys and Girls Club, 1710 S. Madison St.

In addition to evacuating homes, multiple 911 calls were made for stranded vehicles because of high water.  Fire departments across several counties are warning people not to drive into standing or moving water, as it may damage your car, strand you, and put you in danger.

In Yorktown, town officials say the town’s wastewater treatment plant was under water as of Wednesday night.  In a statement on social media, Yorktown writes, “taff remained at the plant as long as they safely could, securing operations and protecting equipment before conditions forced them to evacuate. IDEM has been notified, there has been significant damage, and the situation continues to be monitored.”

State and county disaster declarations

On Thursday afternoon, Governor Mike Braun declared a statewide disaster emergency.  He also mobilized the Indiana National Guard to help hard-hit areas.

Muncie has declared a local disaster emergency. Delaware County Commissioner Shannon Henry says the county is preparing a disaster declaration to vote on at the commissioner meeting on Monday.

“I think that it’ll be important.  I’ve received a couple different phone calls of individuals who are flooded out, or their basements are flooded, or their home has damage.”

Madison County Public Information Officer Tom Ecker says Madison County has declared a local state of emergency.

“There’s a lot of roads along the river that are flooded over, and we’ve probably got about 30 to 40 percent of the county roads have water over the top of them that are closed.”

Disaster declarations can help residents and businesses apply for state or federal money to help with clean-up and repairs.

Delaware County residents are now being asked to report damage to this form, run by the county.

Henry says Delaware County’s sandbag stations are open. Two temporary sandbag locations were added Wednesday afternoon:

• Permanent: Delaware County Highway Department (East Jackson Street/State Road 32)
• Permanent: Delaware County Fairgrounds (near the maintenance building)
• Temporary: 2303 South Elm Street
• Temporary: 16th Street and Elm Street

Off Air Channels

Additionally, because of continuing standing water at one of our transmitters sites, WBSW-FM and WBSH-FM are off the air.  WBST-FM 92.1 and WBSB (The Note) 89.5 remains on the air.  We are still able to stream both IPR and The Note online and on the Ball State Public Media app.

For TV viewers, all three channels on Ball State PBS are off the air.

Stephanie Wiechmann is our Managing Editor and “All Things Considered” Host.  Contact her at slwiechmann@bsu.edu.

Thomas Ouellette is our reporter and producer.  Contact him at thomas.ouellette@bsu.edu.