Rocky Ripple’s levee fended off the White River as storms battered and flooded Central Indiana this week – but just barely.
Residents who spoke to IndyStar on Sunday, Aug. 16 attributed the town’s safety to the estimated 1,000 volunteers who worked tirelessly for more than two days to keep the rising floods at bay. People from Rocky Ripple and beyond hauled thousands of sandbags to the levee, hoping to raise the barricade a few inches in order to keep the floodwaters out.
The levee, designed to protect against severe flooding, has been a source of town consternation for decades.
It’s not exceptionally tall, it’s not exceptionally strong, and it’s been battered and abused by the likes of groundhogs and over-eager developers, Margaret Brabant, a homeowner who has lived on the Rocky Ripple riverfront since 1992 said on Aug. 16.
As the water levels rose (a makeshift gauge near the Rocky Ripple Town Hall estimated the river was 17 feet higher than usual), a group of residents realized the levee was likely too low to handle the oncoming flood.
Randy Sanders, the Rocky Ripple town council president, put out a call for help on Friday afternoon. The volunteers rushed in.
Hundreds of people dug through two loads of sand dumped off by Indianapolis Department of Public Works, filling and hauling sandbags to the levee.
When sand ran out, volunteers turned to the sand volleyball court at Hohlt Park. Sanders estimated volunteers had filled and hauled nearly 15,000 sandbags in the fight to save Rocky Ripple – depleting the volleyball court in the process.
“If the residents here and the town elected officials and all these volunteers hadn’t fought like hell, this town would have been washed out,” said Indianapolis City-County Councilor John Barth, who spent most of his weekend in Rocky Ripple hauling sandbags.
Homeowners agree.
“That water was up to the top of those sandbags last night,” said Brabant. “It rose higher than the levee could protect.”
Residents believe they and their homes avoided severe flooding due to the hard work of volunteers, but a couple inches of water is still visible on some streets in Rocky Ripple. On Sunday, Aug. 16, volunteers turned to the waterlogged roadways, homes and weak spots on the levee where water seeped through.
“We’re having to deal with this hour by hour right now,” Sanders said.
Sophie Hartley is an IndyStar environment reporter. You can reach her at sophie.hartley@indystar.com or on X at @sophienhartley. IndyStar’s environmental reporting is made possible through the generous support of the nonprofit Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Rocky Ripple was about to flood. Volunteers and 15,000 sandbags saved it
Reporting by Sophie Hartley, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Sophie Hartley, Indianapolis Star | USA TODAY Network
