Flood — White, Indiana

2018-02-20 to 2018-02-25 · near Garwood Arpt, White, Indiana

Event narrative

The heavy rainfall in the Tippecanoe River basin forced dam flows in excess of 20,000 CFS. This caused extensive flooding downstream of the dam with some neighborhoods having to have assistance evacuating and some water rescues due to rapid rises. The Diamond Point area near Monticello was impacted by the flood waters. Damage is estimated in excess of 230,000 dollars.

Wider weather episode

A slow release of a snow pack, containing one to over two inches of water, occurred in the days leading to the event which started the process of river rises in many areas. Low pressure tracked from northwest Iowa into northern Lower Michigan, which ushered in a rapid warmup and equally rapid release of any remaining water in the snow-pack. Several rounds of rain occurred between the 19th and 21st of February across the region, fed by record high precipitable water levels (by February standards) in the 1.3 to 1.5 inch range. A swath of four to six inches of rain fell northwest of a Logansport to Kendallville line. All these factors combined to cause extensive flooding on several rivers in the St Joseph, Kankakee and Upper Wabash river basins, with record crests occurring on some rivers. These water levels forced evacuations of homes and closure of businesses and schools, rescues from those driving into flood waters and an overwhelming of water treatment facilities in a few communities. While exact damage figures were not available at the time of entry of the data, preliminary data suggests values into the millions (possibly $10 million or higher).

View location on OpenStreetMap → (40.8861, -86.8402)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 742751. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.