Elkhart County prepares for possible flooding ahead of possible severe storms
ELKHART COUNT, Ind. — Elkhart County is keeping their eyes open and preparing for possible flash flooding this week.
After the historic 2018 flooding in Goshen, the City formed its Flood Resilience Task Force. Department of Environmental Resilience Director Aaron Sawatsky-Kingsley says one of the task force members tracks the predictions from the National Weather Service.
"Part of what that would allow us to do is to see where the where the flooding is most likely to happen in the city, who’s most likely to be affected, what kind of resources need to be in place, whether we need to be prepared to close roads, have sandbags ready, who do we need to alert, those kinds of things," explained Sawatsky-Kingsley.
Executive Director of Elkhart County Emergency Management, Jennifer Tobey, says they've learned a lot since 2018, especially with Goshen being the lowest point in the County.
"Our eyes are always on Goshen. When their levels start rising up then it triggers us for some other places we need to look."
Tobey says Elkhart County EMA is a resource agency, not a response agency. It offers weather classes and trains community members to track precipitation through the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network or CoCoRahs. However, EMA is also prepped and loaded with the resources you may need.
“The County already has some designated sandbag locations and so what we’ll do today unfortunately because of the weather tonight and coming in on Wednesday night, we'll notify those street departments, our cities as well as our county highway to make sure that those free sandbagging stations are supplied with sand, and that they have plenty of sandbags," shared Tobey.
She says all you have to do is bring a shovel, a pair of gloves and you can fill up as many sand bags as you may need.
Tobey also urges anyone still without power after last week's storm, to reach out to her office even if you've already called before. You can reach her office by calling
574-891-2238.
Elkhart County Sandbag Locations
1. Elkhart County Highway Garage
59038 CR 7 N
574-533-0538
Half a mile North of CR 6 on East side
2. Elkhart City Street Department
2421 S. 17th Street Elkhart
574-293-5518
3. Boy Scout Parking Lot
CR 46 West of SR 15
Half a mile on the North side
4. Goshen City Street Department
475 Steury Avenue
574-534-9711
5. Nappanee Street Department
841 E. Wabash Street
574-773-2112