High water in areas around Kosciusko County this morning closed roads and left some drivers stranded or submerged.
At 9:04 a.m. today, police and rescue crews responded to a call at the intersection of CRs 900E and 600N in Fulton County.
The call to dispatch originally place the accident at CRs 1300W and 600S just inside Kosciusko County.According to police, an SUV became submerged. The female driver, along with two children, got out of the vehicle and stood on top of it. Two other juveniles had to be removed from the vehicle by rescue crews.
The names and conditions of the people involved in the incident weren't available as of this morning.
A truck was stuck in high water on Dogwood Drive, off Ind. 15, in Warsaw this morning. And there were several other reports of vehicles being stranded or submerged in the county.
A tornado watch and severe thunderstorm warning were issued until 2 a.m. today by the National Weather Service for Kosciusko and surrounding counties.
Monday night's storm, combined with warmer temperatures that melted any existing snow, led to large amounts of water around the county.
The following roads were closed early this morning:
- Packerton Road between CRs 600S and 700S.
- County Farm Road between Ind. 14 and CR 1200S.
- CR 700S between CRs 875W and 1000W.
- East County Line Road between CR 1100N and King Arthur Trail.
- CR 500S between Ind. 15 and CR 200W.
- CR 450S between County Farm Road and Country Club Road.
Warsaw Community Schools and Tippecanoe Valley Schools released all of their students two hours early today in hopes of getting students home during daylight.
Warsaw Community Schools Superintendent Dr. Robert Haworth said the main reason for letting students out early was their safety.
"Knowing that the weather is not going to let up, we want to give our students and our (bus) drivers a chance to get home during daylight," he said.
Three-fourths of Warsaw Community High School students drive to school, according to Haworth. Student drivers are being advised to take the bus rather than drive home.
Haworth said that while he was superintendent of Springs Valley Schools, there were more days canceled due to flooding than to snow. That's not the case for Warsaw.
"We have employees with 20 years of experience who haven't seen high flooding like this," said Haworth.
Along with school being let out early, all after-school events have been canceled as has tonight's community meeting on balanced scheduling at Lakeview Middle School.
