Nearly 30 residents of a previously contaminated subdivision in Highland, Ind., returned for the first time Sunday to their flood-ravaged homes, while many of their neighbors were still waiting for environmental officials to allow them to return to the area.
Officials from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Indiana Department of Environmental Management were awaiting the results of about 40 tests taken of homes that were contaminated by PCB, a cancer-causing chemical, following flooding, said Philip Schutte, a spokesman for the federal agency.
Negative test results would allow most of the residents in the northern end of the Wicker Park subdivision to return to their homes Monday, said Corrine Wellish, assistant commissioner for the state agency.
”We`re feeling very good about the tests right now,” Wellish said.
”None of the things we`ve sampled have come in dirty.”
Officials have a 50-50 chance of determining the source of the PCB contamination, she said, adding that the flood may have surfaced PCBs
(polychlorinated biphenyls) that have been lying dormant underground for two decades.
Because the results of tests taken Friday and Saturday of homes north of 81st Street in the subdivision showed no detectable levels of PCBs, officials permitted 28 homeowners to assess damage and retrieve valuables on Sunday afternoon.
But environmental officials wanted more than 30 negative results to allow the remaining 90 homeowners who live north of 81st Street to come home, Schutte said.
Meanwhile, residents of the 140 to 150 homes south of 81st Street were able to sort through their ruined belongings from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday in the mild December weather. The high temperature in the Gary area was 55 degrees, according to the Central Weather Service.
Residents were relieved that they didn`t have to contend with freezing or below-freezing temperatures, but most were sad, angry and apprehensive about the condition of their homes.
Large oil patches in his front yard made David Colella fear for the safety of friends and family who were helping him remove items from his house on Rosewood Court in the southern part of the subdivision.
”I`d like to believe it`s safe,” Colella, 37, said.
The EPA told him and his wife, Theresa, it was safe to return to their home, but oil on draperies that he removed from the house scared him.
”We`d like to have a family and live here some day,” Colella said,
”but how can we when we don`t know if it`s safe to live here?”
Other residents expressed anger at the federal, state and local officials` handling of financial assistance for those whose homes were destroyed by the 5-inch deep flood waters nearly two weeks ago.
”I`m very upset with this government,” said Phyllis Roderick, 53, of 8120 Wicker Park Drive.
Government officials told her that she and her husband earn too much money to qualify for a grant, she said.
A loan is not attractive to her because she may not be able to repay it, she said.
”I want the government to give me something to rebuild with,” she said. ”I want them to replace what I had.”
As they removed the few salvageable goods from their homes, some residents lamented that their homeowners` insurance doesn`t cover the flood damage.
”The only aid we might get is a low-interest loan from the government,” said Joe Buchholz, of 8151 Wicker Park Drive. His immediate concern was drying out his waterlogged walls and floors, Buchholz said.
”I`m not really complaining,” Buchholz said.
”At least we`re alive.”
