Sink Hole Swallows Road; Officials Blame March Floods
Posted
Tim Robertson-trobertson@timesuniononline.com
Neighbors said it started as a little crack on the side of Clearwater Drive in the Valley Springs addition off Ind. 15, north of Warsaw.
Now, where the street was before, there is a hole big enough to completely swallow a car.
The sink hole is one of the more visible effects of the heavy rains and flooding that hit Northern Indiana March 8.Kosciusko County Highway Superintendent Dennis Pletcher said his department was alerted to the sink hole March 13. He said one of the county's legal drains goes through the Valley Springs addition on its way to the nearby Tippecanoe River. The tile drains acres of fields north of Valley Springs.
"Water apparently found its way into a gap in the tile and created a suck hole," he said.
As the soil under Clearwater Drive was sucked into the drainage tile, it gradually clogged the tile and slowed the drainage of water from the nearby fields.
"We dug downstream to find the plug in the line," said Pletcher, "and we started getting calls from people getting water in their basements."
Pletcher said more than an inch of rain fell on the area between March 8 and 12.
"Even a quarter inch of rain would have brought a million gallons of water down that way," he said.
Pletcher said the heavy volume of water has delayed repairs on the drainage tile and prolonged the flooding problem for some neighborhood residents.
"We still can't fix the tile today," said Pletcher Monday. "It's a nightmare for us. We can't do anything until the water level goes down. When the water's down, we can get a contractor to fix that line."
Local residents and governments may soon get some relief. Kosciusko County Emergency Management Director Ed Rock said Federal Emergency Management Agency representatives are currently working from a Warsaw field office assessing area flood damage. Depending on the amount of damage, those who suffered lost or damaged property to the floods may qualify for federal aid to help with repairs.
