Source: X / @NWS
INDIANAPOLIS — Central Indiana faces significant flooding due to continuous overnight and early morning rainfall. On Thursday, major roads experienced backups due to high water levels and delays caused by onlookers. One of the problematic areas in the Indianapolis vicinity was I-465 near I-69 on the northeast side.
“We are expecting another half-inch to three-quarters of an inch,” said David Beachler with the National Weather Service. “That brings rainfall totals anywhere from an inch and a half to in some spots over in some spots to two and a half to three inches.”
Beachler says that as the day progresses, the intense rainfall will ease off, although some scattered showers may still exist in some areas. The rain will generally taper down to a drizzle, but we can expect strong winds picking up to around 40 miles per hour.
He explains that wind speeds like that usually don’t cause significant damage. However, given the amount of rainfall we’ve had, today might be an exception.
“We do have saturated soil conditions, and when you have saturated soil conditions, it does make it more likely that trees will come down,” he said. “The winds will increase out of the west and northwest, which will happen in the 3-4 PM timeframe.”
According to Beachler, severe weather is unlikely for most areas aside from eastern Indiana due to the severe weather threat in Ohio, which may affect neighboring regions.
“If it (severe weather) does start to nudge a little bit to the west, then we might put our eastern counties at risk of severe storms,” he said.
On Thursday, the closure of southbound U.S. 31 in Hamilton County, just north of Westfield, because of a crash also affected the morning commute. Additionally, standing water was observed on the south side of Indianapolis along I-65 near the Southport Road exit.
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Central Indiana Deals with Flooding, Impacting Commutes was originally published on wibc.com
