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Storms dumped as much as 10 inches of rain on already-soggy central Indiana on Saturday, threatening dams, inundating highways and sending the Coast Guard to rescue residents from swamped homes. Officials in four central Indiana counties have declared emergencies, and shelters have been set up for hundreds of residents who have been forced from their homes. No injuries or deaths have been reported.
"At this point, mercifully, we believe all Hoosiers are secure," Gov. Mitch Daniels said during a news conference. "We hope that will continue."
The National Weather Service (web|news) issued flash-flood warnings in 15 counties, saying record flooding was possible.
Water had reached the first floor of Johnson Memorial Hospital in Franklin, county Commissioner Tom Kite said, and cars were submerged up to their windshields in the county government building parking lot.
"We have dams failing in the Prince's Lakes area," threatening the town of Nineveh, about 30 miles south of Indianapolis, Kite said.
Indiana State Police reported evacuations in the Lake Lemon area about 10 miles northeast of Bloomington. Dams near Gold Point were close to collapse, police said.
Near Martinsville, southwest of Indianapolis, Ben Pace watched motorboats rescuing neighbors. The rain didn't appear that bad when he woke up, Pace said, but he then watched water rise 6 to 8 inches in his backyard shed.
"Then I realized that it's worse than it's ever been," he said.
A rescuer came by boat to his front door to get him. He managed to grab some clothes and his dog, leaving the home with knee-deep water in his bedroom.
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.
Residents of Helmsburg, about 40 miles south of Indianapolis, were taken by bus to a YMCA in Nashville, said Wayne Freeman, Brown County Red Cross chairman.
In western Indiana, water more than a foot deep surrounded homes on Terre Haute's east side. U.S. 41 was the only route open into Terre Haute, and it was down to one lane by mid-afternoon.
J.D. Kesler, deputy director of the Vigo County Emergency Management Agency, said more than 200 people had to be rescued from their homes, vehicles and nursing homes there.
"The ground is just saturated. When you get this much rain, it's flash-flood time," Kesler said.
More than 30,000 electricity customers lost power, the Indiana Utilities Regulatory Commission said.
Authorities also cleaned up in northeastern Indiana and northwestern Ohio, where thunderstorms tore down trees and power lines Friday night.
Thousands of Ohio households still lacked power Saturday, utilities said. Thousands more remained without power Saturday afternoon in Michigan, which at one point had more than 150,000 customers in the dark, utilities said.
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Associated Press writer Ken Kusmer in Indianapolis contributed to this report.
Written By TOM MURPHY
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