Southern Indiana assesses February flood damage to individual, public areas

April 03--SOUTHERN INDIANA -- More than a month after the most serious flooding in 20 years swamped Clark and Floyd counties, officials are working to recover the damage.

Representatives from the state Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency met with city and town leaders from both counties Tuesday as part of a statewide survey of public damage incurred.

FEMA staff were also in the area last week, assessing claims for damages to individual homes affected by the flooding. If Indiana is deemed to receive FEMA assistance, the individual municipalities and homeowners would see damage relief.

At this point, however, the data is preliminary and could change until the assessments are complete, according to an email sent Monday by a representative of Indiana Homeland Security.

INDIVIDUAL DAMAGES

In Utica, one of the hardest hit areas in Clark County, there were around 100 homes affected by the flooding, Les Kavanaugh, Clark County Emergency Management director, said. But he doesn't know if those will rise to the level of "buyouts" from emergency funds. There were some homes removed following the 1997 flood.

"Now will that happen this time? Now one knows," he said.

In 1997, there were 23 homes with major damage. This year, the late February flooding severely damaged about half that number of houses, said Curtis Wells, Utica Emergency manager. About a dozen people are still out of their homes in the town, he said.

But he added that the morale in the town is good overall.

"People are just still waiting to hear from their insurance companies, and that's taking a while because all of [the] adjustors are really busy all over the state," Wells said. "Hopefully it won't be September or October before some of these people get back in."

Clarksville submitted reports of 28 homes and nine businesses with damage. In Floyd County, emergency management director Kent Barrow said there are about 28 residences that would qualify for assistance if the state receives the federal funding, but none are uninhabitable.

PUBLIC PROPERTY DAMAGES

In both counties, emergency directors and department heads say while they're able to estimate some of the cost of damage already cleaned up, that can change.

If there's cleanup or repair work that's yet to be completed, the cost will rise as that gets done. If certain projects use more or less materials, such as road repairs, that can cause the cost to fluctuate, as well.

In Floyd County, the homes most affected were on Ind. 111, which runs along a lower elevation close to the river. Some county roadways were also affected by the flooding, Barrow said, noting Smith Road only recently was reopened after flooding washed away a culvert.

He said on Monday that the county would be turning in around $191,000 in damages to public properties like roadways, and the City of New Albany around $150,000.

In Clark County, Highway Department Superintendent Jim Ross planned to submit an estimate of around $260,000 to the IDHS and FEMA representatives during their Tuesday meeting.

But that's for work done so far; he expects damage estimates could double when repairs get started on three affected bridges. Right now, the water is still too high to begin repairs.

"It could be a couple hundred thousand [dollars] on those three bridges, depending on what the damage is," he said.

Clarksville officials also met with the emergency team to submit public damage estimates. Town Manager Kevin Baity said the public damage was primarily to roads off Blackiston Mill Road, along with Harrison Avenue and Emery Crossing, closer to the river.

Although the Town had to shut down a sewer lift station off Blackiston Mill Road during the flooding, it didn't sustain permanent damage.

"We washed it and cleaned it and everything came back to life," Baity said. The Town submitted a damage estimate totaling $108,000, but Baity said it's likely to go up as workers continue to collect debris from residents and clean the riverfront.

MORE THAN INFRASTRUCTURE

In addition to roadways, outdoor recreation spots in Clarksville were affected.

Brian Kaluzny, Clarksville Parks Department superintendent, said his department is seeking recovery of $1,500 in labor costs, and another $2,200 for the use of equipment. Those figures likely will climb, too.

The Lewis and Clark Trail, expected to be finished by fall, is expected to be delayed several months as 400 feet of trail is restored. That damage is yet to be tallied, Kaluzny said.

"We've tried to go in there and it's just way too muddy at this point," he said.

There's still a lot of debris that needs to be cleaned up in that area, but the Ohio River remains high, fueled by more recent heavy rains, making it difficult to access.

"We'd like to get some of it cleaned up before Thunder [Over Louisville], but right now it's pretty much impossible to get in there," he said.

Until the assessments are completed and the call made on whether Indiana will receive funding, it's a waiting game, something familiar to Kavanaugh.

In the last decade that he's been Clark County EMA director, he's been through four declared disasters in the county, including the straight-line winds in 2011 and the Henryville tornado in 2012.

"Clark County has had a series of disasters," Kavanaugh said. "We live in an area where the weather can get violent overnight."

Aprile Rickert is the crime and courts reporter at the News and Tribune. Contact her via email at aprile.rickert@newsandtribune.com or by phone at 812-206-2115. Follow her on Twitter: @Aperoll27.

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