Lake Pleasant residents battle flooding

May 04-- May 4--JEFFERSON TOWNSHIP -- Several residents along the quiet shores of Lake Pleasant are seeking ways to stop their homes from flooding after the shoreline broke in recent heavy rains.

The US National Weather Service Northern Indiana reported rainfall at two-and-a-half inches in one night with a total rainfall of three-to-four inches over the past seven days.

With forecasted rain expected Monday, many residents are scrambling to preserve their property and stop the higher than average waters from flowing into their homes.

Dennis Camp, who lives atop a hill across Lake Pleasant Road from the shorelines for the past four years, is one of the lucky few to avoid flooding.

"We've never seen it this high where it comes up to people's houses," Camp said.

Gary Ames, who has lived across the street on the shores of Lake Pleasant with his mother for over a decade, said that water levels had been high in recent years, but never to the extent as it is this spring.

Ames, whose home has been spared from flooding, for now, was tasked to find sandbags Friday morning to reinforce their home and prevent water -- which sits just inches away from their home -- from flowing in.

Hillsdale County Drain Commissioner Matt Word said water levels last year were high as well, but said, "it is kind of an extreme event."

Word explained that several hundred acres of watershed flow into Lake Pleasant and the lake was taking in more water than it was discharging.

A "wide-ditch" drains water from the lake into a 30-inch tile near Hudson Road which then flows north into another "wide-ditch" as Word described it.

"That 30-inch pipe can't handle all that," Word said. "There's more water coming in then can be discharged."

Word's crews, which normally do not work on Fridays, were busily working to inspect the tile Friday morning. Word reported the tile was not clogged and was flowing at maximum capacity. An engineer for the drain commission estimated the tile was flowing around 13,000 gallons a minute.

Word crews set out on a boat Friday north of the discharge tile to inspect other pipes downstream to ensure they were not clogged. Workers discovered another tile further downstream was around 80-percent clogged and cleared it.

"The drain commission is doing everything we can to resolve this and keep water moving," Word said. "The residents around Lake Pleasant should notice a considerable change in the next 12-24 hours."

Word and Jefferson Township Trustee Dick Diller inspected the affected areas Friday morning by a vehicle as well.

Diller, who lives along the north side of Lake Pleasant off of Lake Avenue, said one of his neighbors recalled similar flooding 42-years ago and that his home was flooding as well.

Dillersaidwaterlevelshad dropped one inch overnight.

Diller's neighbor, Curt Jordan, who owns a cottage down the road, was also affected. Jordan was busy filling sandbags to reinforce his property and stop flooding.

"It's just going to take time and a good sunny day," Diller said.

Steve Wismar, the Jefferson Township supervisor, said the township was not doing anything as of Friday morning to assist affected residents, but that could change in the future.

Hillsdale County Emergency Management Director Doug Sanford said his office had not yet been contacted regarding the issues and added that emergency management resources were not typically deployed for a private property unless injuries were involved, citing state law.

Residents with flood damage will have to rely on their homeowner's insurance for assistance if they purchased additional flooding insurance as often times homeowners insurance does not cover flooding.

Earlier in the week, the heavy rains forced the closure of Waldron Road between Bacon and Church Road, Squawfield Road between Pittsford and Lickley Road and Cooper Road between Reading and Lilac Road.

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