Tippecanoe River water level drops

CARROLL COUNTY, Ind. (WLFI) - As of Thursday afternoon, water levels have dropped significantly.

Judging from the tree lines and the sides of homes it is easy to see the water is going down. NIPSCO's spokesman, Jim Fitzer, said the flow rates at the Oakdale and Norway Dams have fallen significantly. As of 1:30 this afternoon, the Oakdale Dam's flow rate was 21,000 cubic feet per second and the Norway Dam's was 19,000 cubic feet per second. But Carroll County Emergency Management Director Dave McDowell said it will still be months before residents can get back in their homes.

"People who have a lot of energy, and the free time to do it will get in there and last time we had people living in there homes a week after the water receded. But that's the exception rather than the rule," McDowell said.

McDowell said he understands why many residents along the river are upset after three floods in just more than a year.

"We may be seeing the beginning of a cycle here. It may be the increased run off, it may be just a couple of La Nina years we had that were extra wet, but if there's one thing I urge people it's to raise those homes and get insurance," McDowell said.

Tecumseh Bend resident Veronica Slipher was at the Red Cross shelter Delphi. She said it is hard to believe a flood could devastate her home once again. She is anxious to get back to her house.

"Once you live on the river, you want to be on the river. There is no place like living on the river," Slipher said.

Paul Niles and his wife bought their retirement home here at Tecumseh Bend more than a year ago. Since then, the home has flooded three times. But what concerns Niles is that in the 45 years the house has been built, it had never flooded before last year.

"We just don't understand why it's being flooded since they put it on a computerized system, other than a manual system. Why don't we have some control over the waterways that is flooding us," Niles said.