Official tells Hebron residents flood relief work under way

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BY PHIL WIELAND
pwieland@nwitimes.com
219.548.4352 | Tuesday, September 30, 2008 | (No comments posted.)

HEBRON | People came with pictures and video discs documenting the floods they experienced in August and again earlier this month, and they left with a promise that problem areas will be fixed.

About 40 people attended Monday's work session with the Town Council and the Porter County Drainage Board. The meeting in the Community Center was punctuated by the slap and clap of people swatting mosquitoes, annoying evidence of the recent floods.

Several complained their homes flooded for the first time during both summer rains, and one resident said he was flooded while a wooded area that normally floods in heavy rains remained high and dry. Some blamed much of the flooding that occurred on the east side of town on a subdivision built on an area that used to serve as a stormwater storage area.

They said the developer built up the level of the subdivision so that it remained above the flood while their homes were inundated for the first time. Another major cause was pinned on the poorly maintained county drainage ditches: the Henderson Ditch, which becomes Cobb Creek and flows into the Breyfogel Ditch.

County Commissioner Bob Harper attended the meeting and told the crowd the commissioners already asked former Commissioner Dave Burrus, an engineer, to develop a plan, and work started Monday to correct some of the problems. But he warned it won't cure all the issues.

"We are going to do everything that can be done to solve the problems," Harper said, listing the several steps initiated to remove blockages in the ditches, widen the channels and raise the sides, increase the size of culverts in a couple of farms, and install a pair of culverts under a railroad bridge that was cited as a major source of the backup.

"Why do these problems happen?" he asked. "Because we don't plan like we should plan in Porter County, the cities and the towns. We are in a hurry to develop. This is going to go on a long time after I'm out of office. If we don't take back and run the planning, the flooding is going to happen again and again.

"It has to be a global thing. We can't plan a subdivision going into a drain if the drain is not going to work. We can't keep building and building. We either take over the planning and insist that it be done right, or it's not going to be done right. We have to get mad and stay mad."

County Surveyor Kevin Breitzke said, "It could be time to consider a regional detention facility at the north end of town because you are getting a lot of water from that direction."

Harper said it will cost more than $300,000 to carry out the improvements. Burrus already outlined to help the area, and he urged residents to contact Burrus with any information that might help the plan. The county has about $100,000, but Harper said the commissioners are looking for the rest of the funding.

"We're gonna fix it," he said.

Breitzke said the project has been fast-tracked and should be completed in three months.

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