Flood — Carroll, Indiana

2008-01-08 to 2008-01-14 · near Yoeman, Carroll, Indiana

Event narrative

Record flooding occurred along the Tippecanoe River downstream of Oakdale Dam in Carroll County due to heavy rain and snow melt. At least 330 homes in Carroll County met preliminary qualifications to be considered destroyed.

Wider weather episode

Record to near record flooding occurred during early January in many along the Tippecanoe River. One of the locations that was severely impacted was downstream of Oakdale Dam in Carroll County. Hundreds of homes were either damaged or destroyed. Millions of dollars of damage occurred due to the flooding. Heavy summer time rains falling on saturated partially frozen winter time soils led to record flooding along the Tippecanoe and other rivers and streams in northern Indiana. All of this occurred from essentially one precipitation event during January. Significant snow of more than 6 inches fell in northern Indiana on the 1st and 2nd. Record January warmth melted all of this snow overnight on the 6th. Thunderstorms late on the 7th and early on the 8th dropped 3 to over 7 inches of rain in less than 12 hours on

portions of north central Indiana. Serious local flooding resulted

almost immediately as the heavy rain fell. The first wave of this heavy rain was concentrated just north and outside of the Indianapolis HSA. Because White County was one of the locations where the greatest rain fell, record flooding occurred along the Tippecanoe River downstream of Oakdale Dam by 8 am on the 8th. The U.S. Geological Survey estimated the return period of this flood at their site on the Tippecanoe downstream of Oakdale Dam may have been greater than a 500 year flood. NIPSCO's figures indicated the peak flow of over 30,000 cfs from Oakdale Dam approached their calculated 100 year flow. Numerous evacuations took place on and along the Tippecanoe River downstream of Oakdale Dam. Record flooding along the Tippecanoe River quickly dissipated as the flood approached the Wabash River. Significant flooding occurred along the Wabash River from Lafayette to Terre Haute and lowland flooding from south of Terre Haute to the Ohio River. During the day on the 8th and early of the 9th another band of heavy rain of 1 to over 4 inches fell in the Indianapolis HSA. This rain fell in the southern and eastern portions of the state and produced significant flooding in the upper portions of the White and East Fork White Basins. This was the first winter season flood for rivers and streams in these watersheds. Rainfall of one half inch to one and a half inches fell in the remainder of central Indiana. Lowland flooding occurred along the White River in southwest Indiana while the White River in the Indianapolis metropolitan area only reached bankfull levels.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (40.6562, -86.7741)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 78406. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.