#57FloodRelief: Elkhart flood victims cleaning up drowned homes

#57FloodRelief: Elkhart flood victims cleaning up drowned homes

ELKHART, Ind. - While the floodwaters may have receded on the streets of Elkhart, they're still wreaking havoc in neighbors' basements. Now, they're forced to clean up the damage.

A neighbor on Sherman Street, Valerie Hickle, has three sump pumps running, working to suck the water out of her still soaked basement.

“It was all the way covered up to here," she said, pointing to the top of her basement stairs.

A landlord who owns other properties on Sherman Street says that's the story for all the houses along this still closed road - and most basements look like Valerie Hickle's.

“We lost a lot. I mean Christmas stuff and porcelain dolls that my husband’s mom gave him and she’s no longer living, so we lost that, lot of stuff that we can’t replace," said Hickle.

She says her car also was totaled in the flood.

“Financially, I mean right now everything is up in the air, because we don’t know...if we’re going to get another place...I’m going to have to get a new vehicle," said Valerie.

For now, her landlord's letting her stay at another house she owns, but the situation isn't ideal.

“We don’t have no water at our new place, because they literally just bought it the day we flooded," said Valerie.

Plus, she says they don't know if they'll get the loan they need because of poor credit.

So, for her and so many on Sherman Street, it's a waiting game.


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