Melt led to flooding

Twenty-five years ago this week, melting snow and rain combined to flood areas of Jay County.

The Jan. 19, 1996, edition of The Commercial Review featured a story about overnight wind and rain that led to significant flooding around New Corydon.

The flooding came after several weeks of snowstorms followed by the high temperature climbing to 62 degrees Jan. 18. That brief spurt of warmth was followed quickly by frigid conditions as the temperature plunged to 5 degrees the next day.

It was reported that flooding was not as significant as it could have been, but Jay County Sheriff’s Department and Jay County Emergency Management had to respond to the Wabash River, which had spilled over its banks.

“Both ways into New Corydon are covered,” said Tami Mann of the emergency management agency.

The flooding followed even more severe issues form the previous year.

“The water’s up and it’s above the banks, but it’s not near as bad as it was this summer,” said Jay County Sheriff Kip Robinette.

Other areas of Jay County dealt with more isolated flooding issues, including a semi being pushed off the road by flooding on Indiana 1. There were no injuries in the incident.

Additional flooded roads included Como Road, county road 400 South, county road 500 North, Rive Road, county road 350 East and county road 800 North.