Monday's Rains and Saturated Ground Increase Flooding Risk

Severe storms making their way through Indiana Monday ushered in damaging winds and heavy rains, leaving thousands in the Indianapolis area without power. That’s in addition to rain over the last week that’s saturated much of the state.

Now, the National Weather Service has issued a flash flood watch for all of Central Indiana, in effect until Tuesday morning. 

The past week has seen much of Indiana pelted with up to three to six inches of rain, with pockets of the region seeing nearly nine inches of rain. The saturated ground combined with Monday afternoon's heavy rains has increased the risk of flash flooding, NWS Meteorologist Mike Ryan said.  

"We’ve reached a point where really the ground can’t take any more water because of what we’ve had fall in the last week," Ryan said. "And if you go all the way back to early June, there are some places that have seen 15, 16, 17 inches of rain."

Ryan said that when the ground is incapable of holding additional water, it ends up in the streams and creeks and results in sometimes rapidly rising waters. The NWS said flooding is possible throughout central Indiana, including Marion and surrounding counties, as well as Bartholomew and Monroe counties.

Flash flooding early Sunday morning led to several water evacuations in the Morgan County town of Mooresville.

As of early Monday afternoon, about 33,000 Indianapolis Power & Light customers in the Indianapolis area remained without power.