Former mayor looks back on Flood 2008 as anniversary approaches

On Thursday, it will be 10 years since Columbus and Bartholomew County faced the community’s largest natural disaster.

According to the National Weather Service, the day before the Flood of 2008, storms dumped four to 12 inches of rain to the north of the community. That combined with heavy rain the morning of June 7th. leading to the devastating flood which damaged more than 1,500 homes, flooded the hospital causing $180 million dollars in damage, and left scars that are still visible today.

Then-Mayor Fred Armstrong said that he was  watching a movie with his family that day when the first alerts came in. He left his family at the theater and went to briefings before jumping into a helicopter. On the first pass over Columbus Regional Hospital, the facility appeared completely dry.

Armstrong said that the city emergency crews came together to deal with the disaster and received vital help from the state and federal government. However, at the first meeting with residents and officials, held at Northside Middle School, things did not get off to a good start.

Armstrong says that the city pulled through with cooperation.

The Bartholomew County Emergency Operations Center did not yet have its Everbridge alert system at the time of the flood, meaning there was no way to target warnings to residents in the danger zone of the fast-moving floodwaters. Armstrong said it was a race to get people out of the danger zone, as the flood waters rose so quickly.

One of the two deaths in the flood came from a motorcycle accident and the second came from when a driver drove into flood waters.

The city will commemorate the flood anniversary Thursday with an event in the Pleasant Grove neighborhood, which was one of the most heavily hit parts of the city, destroying more than 40 homes. That will be from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Thursday at the orchard in the former neighborhood.