Residents along the flooded Kankakee River continued to battle Friday as the waterway reached a new record-high level at Shelby.
Amy Seeley, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Romeoville, Ill., said the river was measured at 13.3 feet at 9:45 a.m. Friday, surpassing the previous high-water mark of 13.04 set Sept. 19, 2008, by almost three inches.
Another half-inch of rain is expected to fall in Northwest Indiana through Saturday night, she said. Despite the forecast for future rainfall, the river has crested and its level is not expected to change much over the next couple days.
“It’s going to remain pretty steady right there,” she said.
The Indiana Department of Transportation has closed the northbound and southbound lanes of U.S. 41 at Sumava Resorts in Newton County. The road will be re-evaluated Saturday. Indiana 55 also remained closed in Newton County both directions just south of the Kankakee River.
Jan Smoljan, Lake County highway superintendent, said the county has about 12 roads closed and those closures are expected to remain through at least Monday. He said workers would periodically inspect the closures, but because the river level is predicted to remain constant for days, the closures will likely last.
Clay Street at the Kankakee River Bridge between Newton and Lake counties remains closed. Closures include in unincorporated Dyer: Towle Street from 85th Place to 87th Avenue; unincorporated Crown Point: Clark Street from 93rd Avenue to 101st Street, 101st Street from Clark Street to Blaine Street; 121st Avenue off Iowa Street heading east into Crown Point, and East 145th Avenue from Iowa Street to Arizona Street; in Leroy: 141st Street to the grain elevator; in unincorporated Lowell: 221st Avenue from U.S. 41 to Chestnut, Chestnut south of 221st Avenue to 226th Avenue, Clark Street from 201st Street to 205th Street, and Stateline Road between 225th Avenue and 226th Avenue.
Smoljan said the county has delivered about 500 tons of loose sand and another 1,500 filled sandbags to the Shelby area, in addition to filled sandbags supplied by Munster and Highland.
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“We’re working ’round the clock,” he said. Workers will continue throughout the weekend manning pumps and monitoring roads.
Neighbors in the Shady Shores subdivision of Shelby, one of the areas hardest hit by the flooding, have been working around the clock as well, banding together to pump water back into the river and away from homes. The banks of the river had been shored up with sandbags, preventing spillover, but seepage from the ground continues to fill low spots, homeowners said.
“I think we’re going to beat this,” Harry Unsworth said as he talked strategy with neighbors Steve Conner and Mike Cunningham.
“This is the worst it’s been,” Conner said.
They planned to move the pump down the block to help Unsworth move water from his yard and another neighbor’s. The men were no stranger to floods. This is the third major flood Conner said he has dealt with in his 16 years living in Shady Shores. For Cunningham, it will be his fourth or fifth after 25 years on the river’s shore, he said.
Shelby volunteer firefighter Stew McKee was spending a second day Friday helping bag and deliver sandbags with fellow volunteers and trustees from the Lake County Jail.
“We’re making it work,” McKee said. “It’s a small town. Everybody’s got to pull together.”
Carrie Napoleon is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.