‘Never seen this kind of water.’ Rivers start to recede in South Bend and Michiana after floods

Feb. 22--After rivers and streams swelled from two days of record rainfall and melting snow, the sense of unease in Michiana began to ebb. The skies, after all, had mostly cleared by Wednesday morning. But with major floods, the worst usually comes after the rain stops.

Trevor Prince was one of the people who may have been lulled into a false sense of security. When he came to work in the morning, the Memorial Hospital employee parked his Toyota Camry in its usual spot on South Bend's Main Street, near Leeper Park.

"You park at 7 in the morning, everything's dry, a little bit of water on the corner," Prince said, "and then you get a page over the intercom a few hours later: 'Come move your car, it's about to float away.' "

By late afternoon, the St. Joseph River had risen at least a foot, engulfing the park and half of the car's front wheels. Prince managed to drive it to higher ground, but he didn't yet know whether the car could be salvaged. The carpet was waterlogged, the engine made an odd sound and the electrical system was glitchy.

Moments later, and just a few feet away, South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg staged a press conference in the street, where he warned that the worst was yet to come.

The St. Joseph River in South Bend had already risen to 12 feet -- 10.9 feet had been the previous record, and 11 feet is considered a 100-year flood.

The waters kept rising into Wednesday night, and were expected to go up by another foot. By Thursday morning, they finally started to recede, though it's not time to relax yet.

"We're now at a 500-year flood level," Buttigieg said. "We will be at flood level for at least a week."

Flooding has already shut down dozens of streets across the region, forced people to evacuate their homes and pushed some business owners to temporarily close their doors. Portions of Mishawaka's downtown and Riverwalk are buried under water.

Meanwhile, sections of the South Bend's wastewater treatment plant have been shut down because of flooding, dropping treatment capacity to about a quarter of its maximum and forcing raw sewage to flow into the river.

South Bend Public Works Director Eric Horvath said the city's plant is down to a treatment capacity of 20 million gallons a day, well below its 77 million gallon-a-day capacity.

"There's a lot of sewage going into the river right now," Horvath said. "There's a lot of river water coming into the sewer."

He added, however, that the issues at the plant have no impact on the city's drinking water.

The mayor declared a state of emergency, as did St. Joseph County Commissioners. It's a designation that could help qualify the area for state and federal money to repair public infrastructure and homes.

Buttigieg asked residents living in flood-prone areas near the river to use caution and heed barriers on streets that the city has closed, such as the Northside Boulevard area on the east side, and the North Shore Triangle neighborhood close to Riverside Drive.

Across the region, few communities were spared from the flooding:

--In Elkhart County, road closures and evacuations may only get worse into Thursday and possibly Friday as water levels continue to rise. By Wednesday afternoon, a state of an emergency had been declared throughout the county, and 20 people were evacuated from their homes in the area of 6th Street and Moody Avenue in Elkhart. Meanwhile, Elkhart Central High School's football field and stadium were covered in water, with only the tops of the goal posts visible.

--Flood waters inundated rural parts of Marshall County, especially in German Township near Bremen, and resulted in travel warnings. A few downtown Plymouth businesses closed, about 10 homes in the city were evacuated and several schools were closed. All eyes are still on the Yellow River, which has yet to crest.

--Officials in Niles have advised residents to seek higher ground as the St. Joseph River keeps rising. Water swamped Riverfront Park and surrounded Front Street structures, including Wonderland Cinema, a shopping strip with Save-A-Lot grocery store and the Parkview Apartments building.

River neighborhoods awash

In South Bend, dozens of homes in the North Shore Triangle and Northside Boulevard area, as well as the Baugo Creek area near the St. Joseph-Elkhart County line, were flooded, said John Antonucci, St. Joseph County Emergency Management Agency director.

Using a large broom, Rose Brzezinski, 90, pushed water into a sump pump in the basement of her Angela Boulevard home in South Bend.

The pump activated every five seconds, pushing water out as it continued to rush in through wall crevices.

"I've been here almost 26 years and have never seen this kind of water," said Brzezinski.

Water steadily rose throughout the day along a low-elevated portion of Angela. Sam and Jennifer Ochstein, who live on the street, said their basement sump pump failed overnight. They scrambled to have a technician replace the pump before water rose to levels that would have damaged appliances.

"We don't have flood insurance, which is part of the reason we're frantically trying to get this water out," said Sam Ochstein, who worked alongside his wife to remove water.

Samantha Tucker was about to give two of her children a bath around 10:30 a.m. Wednesday when she saw water begin to bubble out of the heating vents of her home on Emerson Avenue.

A couple of hours before, floodwaters weren't quite up to her house, located just about a block north of the riverbank.

But by 1:30 p.m., Tucker's home was surrounded by water, and she and her two children were being evacuated on a South Bend Fire Department boat, landing just north of the intersection of Emerson Avenue and Hildreth Street.

"I'm just kind of in shock," Tucker said. "I didn't think it was going to move that fast."

Looking south from the intersection, an entire block was visibly flooded, with water encroaching on nine homes and two commercial buildings. An onlooker, Keith Freese, recalled the only flood he can remember being nearly as bad, back in 1949. He'd just moved to South Bend that year, and he used his new boat to help people evacuate their homes.

Across the street from the duplex occupied by the Tuckers, Roger Willemin and Lance Lawson were wading through the thigh-deep water with their television, electronics and other valuables.

Willemin, 35, said by the time he got up at 8 a.m. Wednesday, the water was on the main floor of the house, which he shares with Lawson and Anna Villarreal.

"It was a flip-out fest and then we got to business," Willemin said.

Villarreal left the house first because she is pregnant. The two men waded in the frigid water to remove valuables, collectibles and other items.

Willemin carried his 10-year-old pitbull Niamh to safety while Lawson carried 9-year-old Kawi, also a pit bull. Willemin , who said he has been renting the house for two years, said he's going to stay with his dad but hopes to move back.

Elite Johnson lives in the same duplex as Tucker, and she didn't take her 7-year-old son Lazarick to school Wednesday because of the rising water. By the time help arrived, the water was too high for her to move her Nissan Altima out of the area.

Johnson, along with Lazarick, were evacuated from the home but weren't able to bring any of their belongings. For the time being, they are staying with a family friend.

"I was really worried about the water coming into the house," Johnson said. "I can't swim. I don't know what we would have done if it had gotten much higher."

Tribune reporters Jeff Parrott and Ed Semmler contributed to this story

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