Any other time, lakefront property sure would be a nice thing to have.
Looking at some of the homes in Seymour, Medora, Little Acres, Cortland, Columbus and other area towns recently, we aren’t talking about the same “lakefront property.”
This was muddy, smelly, nasty flood water from the East Fork of the White River after it overflowed its banks and crept into neighboorhoods.

Many residents said it was their first time for dealing with flooding. Others said it was the first time it crept into certain neighborhoods. These are not good firsts by any means.
But thankfully for many of the people, somehow, good came out of what seemed like a disaster. People were notified in good timing of evacuating. People were told where they could go, and emergency shelters were set up fast. Once the flooding was in the neighborhoods, some people were trying to get back to their homes and assess the damage. Then, you heard of friends, family, people from churches, volunteers, police, fire and emergency personnel, city officials and workers and even complete strangers going in and helping others. Isn’t that what community spirit is all about?

Well, that happened in Seymour and it happened in Medora. I know that because I went to these places myself throughout the whole process, between Sunday afternoon and Tuesday. This is going to be on the minds of folks for now, and most likely for a lot longer than that. They are also thinking of what’s next and basically just moving on and doing what they have to do.

When I was called Sunday to come up to do some video, talk to some people and get some pictures, I didn’t know what I was getting to. Neither did the other reporters called up, Aubrey Woods and January Wetzel. I was told by my editor, Dan Davis, that people were evacuated from homes and they had a shelter set up at Seymour High School but they were moving it to Seymour Middle School as they were concerned with the flood waters. I had heard on the news the night before about Interstate 65 being closed for about 60 miles between Seymour and Indianapolis. I thought, “are you serious?” I’ve taken that route many times and never thought water could get up that high, but it sure did.

Once I got up to Seymour, though, I began seeing people everywhere, walking the streets, riding their bicycles and touring the area, people moving furniture and other belongings out of their home and others with cameras and video cameras capturing the moment–the unbelievable moment. That was just in Seymour.

Medora was a different story. While people in Seymour mainly had flooding either in their basements or crawl space or had water around or up to their homes, people in Medora seemed to really get the brunt of it all, especially on one part of town. Everything was just a mess.
I saw a guy kayaking up the street, which is what I saw in Seymour too, people ripping up carpet out of their water-soaked home and others just walking through their homes thinking, “what do I do next?”

I was able to tour one woman’s home. That was just unreal. Floors were buckling, the floor was sinking in another room, carpet was brown from all the water that had been in the home, the carpet and floor was wavy in another room, finish was stripped off a bottom part of her piano and outside she said the mortar was coming out of the bricks on the foundation. Where do you go from there after something like this happens? I just can’t imagine living in a home after all of this, dealing with the smell, mold and other health hazards, let alone dealing with the loss of things in your home, whether it’s furniture or personal belongings that just can’t be replaced. What do you do?

Well, to some of the people, somehow, some way, they are able to just move on. That’s amazing to me. To see the willpower and the forward-thinking in many of the people I talked to, it’s great to see something positive come out of something so negative and unfortunate.
While a few of these people joked about having “lakefront property,” I’m sure it’s not the lakefront property they were hoping for.

But now that a majority of the water has receded, or been pumped elsewhere, it really is time to move on, pick up the pieces and return to some sense of normalcy. I guess that’s what everybody has to do after a disaster. In this case, however, I’m sure these people, at least in Jackson County, are just thankful that no lives were lost and they still have their family, friends and others who helped them through the situation. I can only wish the best to all of those affected. I know these are just words and I can’t understand what they have gone through and what lies ahead. But just being able to move on is something in and of itself.

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