Second Person Found Dead In Indiana Flood

FRANKLIN, Ind. -- A second person has died in historic flooding that gripped Indiana on Saturday and lingered through the beginning of the week as more thunderstorms threatened to exacerbate an already critical situation.

The second drowning victim was a boater who had been missing since Saturday. The body of Mark Stroud, 44, of Coatsville, was recovered Monday in Mill Creek, about 30 miles southwest of Indianapolis, said Phil Bloom, a spokesman for the Indiana Department of Natural Resources.

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A man drowned in his vehicle Sunday in Bartholomew County, about 50 miles south of Indianapolis, said John Erickson, a spokesman for the Indiana Department of Homeland Security.

Nearly a third of Indiana's counties were declared disaster areas early Monday as President George W. Bush ordered federal aid for flood-stricken counties inundated in what the National Weather Service called a 100-year flood.

Marines and National Guard troops continued to pile sandbags in portions of southern Indiana, where floodwaters raged Monday as parts of central Indiana began drying out.

The following counties are included in the federal disaster declaration, which provides funding for emergency protective measures:

Bartholomew, Boone, Brown, Clay, Daviess, Dearborn, Decatur, Franklin, Greene, Henry, Jackson, Jennings, Jefferson, Johnson, Lawrence, Madison, Morgan, Monroe, Ohio, Owen, Ripley, Randolph, Rush, Shelby, Sullivan, Union, Vermillion, Vigo and Wayne.

The federal approval does not yet include individual and public assistance or loans, but that is expected to be made available once the state completes damage assessment.

As much as 11 inches of rain fell in areas to the south of Indianapolis early Saturday, killing one person, flooding homes, threatening dams and closing several roads and highways.

Hundreds of people were forced from their Jackson County homes as the White River raged.

"The water was rising about an inch every 10 minutes," said resident Dave Reichenbacker. "Next thing I know, it started coming through our place."

Flood watches were again issued for storm-weary parts of Indiana as a new storm system threatens to dump as much as 3 inches of additional rain on the state on Monday.

The National Weather Service said a new storm system could drop from 1 to 3 inches of rain on the state late Monday.

Approximately 200 Indiana National Guard members and 140 Marines and sailors joined local emergency agencies in sandbagging a levee of the White River at Elnora, about 100 miles southwest of Indianapolis.

The White River was forecast to crest Tuesday at nearby Newberry near 29 feet, or 16 feet above flood stage. Local officials requested help raising nearly a mile of levee as much as 3 feet.

Gov. Mitch Daniels, who canceled a trade mission to Japan, issued a statement commending the "joint effort between local, state and federal forces."

By Monday morning, eight sites along rivers and streams in central and southern Indiana had eclipsed the flood levels set during the March 1913 deluge considered Indiana's greatest flood in modern times, said Scott Morlock, a hydrologist with the U.S. Geological Survey in Indiana.

Those sites included Newberry, where the river reached 28.04 feet Monday morning, topping the record of 27.5 feet set in the March 1913 flood.

About 750,000 gallons of water per second were flowing by that point in the river. That's about 21,000 bathtubs full of water per second, according to Weirdconverter.com.

"That's just a tremendous amount of water," he said.

The U.S. Coast Guard rescued six campers, including three young children, who had been stranded in the Owen-Putnam State Forest after an earlier attempt by DNR conservation officers was called off due to rugged terrain, the Indiana Department of Homeland Security said. No information was immediately available on whether the people were rescued by boat or helicopter.

The three adults, one toddler and two infants camping at the forest about 40 miles southwest of Indianapolis became stranded after fast-falling rain caused mudslides, the agency said late Sunday. They were taken to a shelter at Spencer Elementary School.

The Coast Guard from the Great Lakes district is one of several agencies helping residents deal with flooded homes and businesses. That includes more than 900 Indiana National Guard troops.

Meanwhile, two Indiana Department of Natural Resources workers were rescued after their airboat capsized in the East Fork White River late Sunday near Brownstown. They were pulled from the water early Monday near Seymour.

The town of Gosport shut off water service to its 900 customers. Officials there said that their well fields had been submerged and that they needed to conserve water for emergency runs.

It could be as much as long as three days before service is restored. Officials planned to hand out bottled water at the fire department Monday night.

Westbound lanes of Interstate 70, which had reopened Sunday afternoon, were closed again by Indiana State Police on Sunday evening after part of the roadway began to collapse in an area where emergency repairs had been made to protect against erosion.