Heavy rains flooded Salamonie, Wabash

Thirty years ago this week, local residents were dealing with an abundance of water.

The July 2, 1993, edition of The Commercial Review featured coverage of a downpour that sent water out of the banks of the Salamonie and Wabash rivers.

The flooding was threatening New Corydon and filled large portions of Portland’s Weiler-Wilson Park.

Ditches were overflowing throughout the county, basements were flooded and Portland had so many streets flooded that it took a rowboat to get across the city.

Portland’s weather station recorded 3.03 inches of rain beginning on the afternoon of July 1 and continuing after midnight. That brought the local rainfall total to 4.32 inches for the week.

New Corydon residents reported that the Wabash River was still rising. The western bridge into the tiny community in northeast Jay County was flooded.

“I think it might be too late for sandbags,” said New Corydon resident Bob Wendel. “Now most of the places that have flooded (in past years) are pretty well flooded by now.”

Still damage to businesses in the downtown area was limited as sandbags were used to block doors to many businesses along Meridian Street.

“We haven’t had a whole lot of problems and calls,” said Portland Mayor Maxine Lewis.

At city hall, water got up to the bottom of the front doors but did not make it inside the building.

County health officials urged residents to stay away from the flood waters as much as possible.

“The water’s dirty, and you couldn’t see if someone fell in it,” said Dave Houck of Jay County Health Department. “It can be a problem if a person has an open cut or something. We just want people to stay out of it.”

Kathryn Dawson of Jay County Civil Defense reported that almost all of the county’s 11,000 sandbags had been distributed.