A dismantled railroad embankment, which Highland, Ind., officials say contributed to last month`s massive flooding there, was ordered replaced immediately by Indiana Gov. Evan Bayh on Thursday.
Acting on recommendations of a state investigative report, Bayh ordered the reconstruction of the barrier by the Indiana Department of Natural Resources. The project is expected to be completed within one month.
The report, issued earlier this week, urged that the embankment, which was partially demolished to expand a bus terminal parking lot, be replaced to help reduce the danger of flooding in the area until Highland officials can decide on the future of the flood-ravaged Wicker Park Manor subdivision.
The parking lot is directly across Indianapolis Boulevard from the low-lying subdivision in Highland, where residents of 271 homes were evacuated Nov. 27 when flood waters triggered by more than 5 inches of rain overflowed the Little Calumet River and swept over the area.
Highland town officials who surveyed the area concluded that the railroad embankment at the west end of the Tri-State Coach Lines parking lot was reduced by as much as 3 feet when the lot was extended earlier this year.
Although the state investigative report refused to blame the flooding on the lowered embankment, it said the barrier should be replaced as soon as possible.
The Army Corps of Engineers plans to start a 31-mile project on the river next year, but that would not be completed until 1995.
”We can`t wait that long,” said Jerome Hauer, the State Emergency Management Director. ”Immediate measures are needed to prevent future flooding.”
Meanwhile, the 500 residents of the area still have not been allowed to move back into their homes, except to clean up during daylight hours.
Under federal regulations, homes that suffered damage of 50 percent of their market value would have to be ”modified” before repairs could start. The report listed 267 of the 271 homes in the subdivision as being damaged that severely.
One possibility outlined in the report called for those homes, which lie some 8 feet below the flood plain, to be raised 10 feet to conform to state and federal regulations.
Another option would be to relocate all residents and have the town buy the homes and demolish them. That land could never be redeveloped.
