FRANKLIN, Ind. — Floodwater forced many people from their homes, breached dams and closed major highways, yet officials said the worst could still come as rivers in south-central Indiana kept rising.
Gov. Mitch Daniels declared emergencies in 10 counties yesterday, after storms dumped up to 10 inches of rain on already soggy ground. Interstate 70 was closed in Clay County in west-central Indiana, and Interstate 65 and another major route, U.S. 31, both were closed near Franklin, just south of Indianapolis.
Authorities were evacuating Columbus Regional Hospital yesterday because of rising water, Indiana State Police said.
Clark Memorial Hospital in Jeffersonville was told to expect seven of the evacuated patients, said Mary Jennings, a Clark hospital spokeswoman. As of 10:30 p.m., none had arrived.
The Republic newspaper in Columbus was reporting on its Web site that other patients were being sent to King’s Daughters’ Hospital in Madison and Schneck Medical Center in Seymour.
In all, about 100 patients were being transported by school buses and ambulances, the newspaper reported.
State Homeland Security Director Joe Wainscott said that officials had no idea of the scope of evacuations but that at least several hundred homes and businesses had been affected.
Ninety percent of the small town of Paragon, southwest of Indianapolis, was under water, Wainscott said. Flooding was also extensive in Terre Haute and Spencer, he said.
No injuries or deaths were reported.
Daniels said that although flash flooding was receding in places, others would be hit even harder when rivers started cresting. Four to 10 inches of rain fell south of Indianapolis overnight and yesterday, the National Weather Service said.
A scuba team performed swift-water rescues and helped evacuate homes in Johnson County, south of Indianapolis, sheriff’s dispatcher Zachary Elliott said. Dams in the county failed, threatening the town of Nineveh about 30 miles south of Indianapolis, County Commissioner Tom Kite said.

courier-journal.com


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