After the flood: 22 miles of completed levees stand between river, new disaster

Sept. 17--A system of flood walls was supposed to be in place to prevent flooding when record rainfall hit Sept. 12, 2008.

So, bitterness surged in Gary, Hammond, Highland, Munster and other communities along the Little Calumet River shortly after the deluge of 2008 receded.

Where was the protection they were promised by the Indiana General Assembly 28 years ago when they mandated new levee construction?

Despite verbal commitments to build, funding lapses and drawn out negotiations with property owners for easements to build resulted in decades of delay.

Instead of a shield for thousands of businesses, homes and homeowners from the Indiana-Illinois state line east to Interstate 65 Drive in Gary, residents got evacuations and $881 million in damage to personal property and lost commerce, with Interstate 94 shut down.

Official anger focused immediately on the Little Calumet River Basin Development Commission, which had been given the levee construction job.

U.S. Rep. Pete Visclosky, D-Gary, and then-Gov. Mitch Daniels called for a change in its leadership. Commission Executive Director Dan Gardner resigned and in 2010 Dan Repay, then a Hammond city councilman, took over.

"The initial timeline for when those levees were supposed to be completed was the mid 1990s," Repay said."But at that time, everything west of Indianapolis Boulevard was incomplete."

In 2009, the commission took stock of the situation and reported only the levees in Highland and the eastern half of Hammond were in minimally acceptable condition.

Those from Gary's Marshalltown west to Griffith as well as those along Forest Avenue in Hammond were in unacceptable condition, and there was no construction ongoing. Those in the rest of Hammond and Munster were still under construction.

That is why river water surged into Gary at Chase Street, 35th Avenue, Grant Street and Harrison Street, where road closures hadn't been installed and backed up through stormsewers connected to the river. Indiana University Northwest was forced to temporarily close its campus.

The Borman Expressway in Gary and Hammond was overtopped because of incomplete levees near Kennedy Avenue, while business and residential sections of Munster were inundated by a breach of an older, inadequate levee at Calumet Avenue the new system was supposed to replace.

Fast-forward to a ceremonial ribbon-cutting last October marking the completion of 4-foot-high concrete sections of the Hammond Levee Tieback built at 172nd Place and State Line Road, one of the final pieces in the Little Calumet River Flood Risk Management Project.

Everything in place

Some 22 miles of levees and control structures, costing $270 million in federal and state funds, are in place and certified as acceptable, Repay said.

The commission website lists these accomplishments:

* Construction of over 9.7 miles of setback levees in Gary and Griffith.

* Construction of 12.2 miles of levees and floodwalls in Hammond, Highland, and Munster.

* Installation of a flow diversion structure at the Hart Ditch confluence in Hammond/Munster.

* Modification of four major highway bridges along the river corridor to permit better flow.

* Creation of 16.8 miles of hiking/biking trails connecting recreational developments.

Repay said the commission has water retention areas where floodwaters can be temporarily diverted and is looking for more such areas in the river's upstream area.

The Indiana Department of Transportation will install a stormwater pumping station southeast of the Kennedy Avenue interchange on the Borman Expressway to alleviate flooding on that commerce artery.

Residents of Munster's Wicker Park neighborhood made impassioned pleas to close the Northcote Avenue bridge between their town and Hammond, arguing the bridge's low elevation was another cause of flooding.

It and other bridges spanning the Little Calumet were raised to provide a higher clearance to floodwaters and debris. Repay said,"There are fewer trees down in the river and no blockages to its free flowing."

Repay said the commission has installed a couple of pumps with electric generators on them to keep operating even in a power outage. It also runs a maintenance program to ensure levees don't fall victim to erosion.

Although the major work is done, Repay said the commission is still making minor improvements to the Army Corps of Engineers design, including a project to raise the grade of Clark Road to match the existing levee in Gary.

Asked if another rain event like the remnants of Hurricane Ike in 2008 revisited Northwest Indiana, would the new levees hold, Repay said, "You don't always have all the answers when you are battling Mother Nature, but our modeling shows it could."

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