A weekend of rain forced the evacuation of homes and closed dozens of roads throughout Schererville and Dyer.

Dyer officials asked some residents on Sunday not to use their septic system because flushing toilets could cause sanitary backups, a result of some "major" problems in town, Town Manager Joe Neeb said.

Sanitary lift stations near Northgate and Park View Terrace neighborhoods had failed, he said Sunday night.

Town personnel went door to door in those neighborhoods, suggesting they evacuate their homes for safety reasons. Casa Maria, located on the grounds of St. Maria Goretti Church, and Mid-America Reformed Seminary were established as relocation sites, Neeb said.

The high level of Hart Ditch concerned town officials, who feared it would overflow. The ditch measured 16.5 feet Sunday night. Its normal level is 2.5 feet. The town anticipated it could rise to more than 17 feet, Neeb said.

The town's sandbagging machine, purchased in response to the August 2007 flooding, broke down at times. It worked, until the machine couldn't handle wet sand. Then it had to be cleaned before it was operational, Neeb said.

Town crews dumped a piles of sand, and people bagged it by hand in the interim.

At 5:30 p.m., about a dozen residents who had helped construct a wall of sandbags to block Hart Ditch from overflowing watched as water began to trickle through their barricade.

Park Manor Drive in the Berens Monaldi neighborhood again was inundated with water. Residents there are still recovering from a crippling flood that hit in August 2007.

This weekend's flooding was more widespread.

"This event is worse than last August," Neeb said. "It's not as isolated as it was then."

Neeb said he anticipated the town would get help from the Indiana Army National Guard.

In neighboring Schererville, more than 100 people were evacuated from the Auburn Meadows subdivision, and another two dozen evacuated their homes in other parts of town, Fire Chief Joseph Kruzan.

Firefighters and police officers used boats to rescue people, and buses transported them to a staging area, where they either met up with family or were bused to the Schererville Town Hall for temporary shelter.

The hardest hit areas were Auburn Meadows, New Castle and Fairview Lane, he said.

More than 20 roads were closed, deemed impassable by flooding. Some motorists who disregarded the barricades either got stranded or caused waves to worsen flood-damaged areas. One wave broke windows on a home, Kruzan said.

At least a half-dozen homes in nearby St. John took in water, Town Manager Steve Kil said.

The town closed about a dozen streets, including portions of U.S. 231, U.S. 41 and 93rd Avenue. Several were reopened as the water began to recede Sunday night, he said.

Crews built a dam around a water treatment plant to protect it from the floodwater.