With River Rising, More Indiana Communities Face Flooding Peril

High water streaming across Indiana that has forced nearly 2,000 people out of their homes threatened more communities Thursday in the southern part of the state.

Elsewhere, high water on the Ohio River caused flooding in West Virginia, Kentucky and Ohio, and some towns closed gates in their flood walls.

In Indiana, weakened levees in Elnora and Hazleton were holding their own against the rising White River. Six families were evacuated from a riverside neighborhood in Edwardsport, where the White River surrounded 11 homes.

About 40 Indiana National Guardsmen worked to sandbag sections of a levee in Elnora, where 15 families were evacuated Wednesday.

“The levees are still leaking, but the waters are receding slightly and I think the threat of it breaking is down,” First Sgt. Curtis Secrest said Thursday.

Gov. Evan Bayh said he would send a formal request to President Bush asking that 40 counties be declared federal disaster areas, making them eligible for financial aid.

The biggest challenge in Edwardsport and other areas of southern Indiana was persuading stubborn riverside dwellers to leave their homes before the water cut off their escape routes.

Knox County Civil Defense director Steve Dillon said five families were refusing to leave their homes in Edwardsport. Sheriffs in Martin and Pike counties said some residents ignored warnings that the flooding would be worse than they had ever seen before.

Upstream on the Ohio, the river rose 5 feet above its flood stage Thursday at Cincinnati, flooding shoreline homes and businesses.

Floodgates were closed along flood walls in Cincinnati and across the river in Newport and Covington, Ky., as a precaution. Several floating restaurants on barges were closed most of this week because of flooding.