Flash Flood — Elkhart, Indiana

2006-07-12 · near Countywide, Elkhart, Indiana

Event narrative

Thunderstorms continued to develop and move from west to east for several hours across mainly the southern part of Elkhart County. While many locations saw 2 to 4 inches of rain, which did cause some localized urban issues, a narrow band of much heavier rain set up from Wakarusa east into Millersburg. By the end of the event an off duty NWS employee reported 8.17 inches in his gauge with another employee only a few miles south of him reporting 4.50 inches and spotters reporting 6.65 inches west of Goshen. The heavy rainfall resulted in many roads in this narrow band being closed as water flowed over them for several hours. Some roads had minor washouts with extensive erosion along many of the ditch banks. At least 24 businesses in Elkhart suffered damage with a few of these having to suspend operations until the water could recede and clean up commence. Damage was reported approaching 1.5 million dollars, assessed from a combination of actual property loss, as well as loss production and income. Luckily, no evacuations were needed, but there were some rescues of people from vehicles that became stranded in the flood waters. This included a police car along State Route 119.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 5519435. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.