Power remains out; Flood watch starts Wednesday

Hundreds of people in our area are still without power this afternoon after last night’s storms blew through.

Duke Energy is reporting about 700 customers without power from Nashville to Westport. That includes just under 500 in Columbus, 182 in western Bartholomew County near Grandview Lake and 20 near Nashville.

Bartholomew County REMC is reporting 324 customers without power this afternoon, most in Ohio Township on the west side of the county, centered around Grandview Lake. The local utility says this morning that the Grandview outage is going to require major repairs and will take significant time. They say that because the damage is so widespread, they are unable to backfeed many homes. You should plan for a prolonged outage in that area.

Columbus Police are warning that several traffic lights remained out as of early this afternoon.

According to Lt. Skylar Berry, spokesman for the police department, the traffic lights at N National Road/Central Avenue, N National Road/Westenedge Drive, and Rockyford Road/Central Avenue are still completely out.

Authorities say that if you are traveling through those intersections, you should drive carefully and expect delays.

It looks like Wednesday could be another night for bad weather in our area.

The National Weather Service in Indianapolis forecasters say that we are going to have showers and thunderstorms Wednesday, turning to heavy rain and breezy by Wednesday night. Very heavy rainfall is possible from late Wednesday through Saturday night due to multiple rounds of rain.

Flash flooding will be possible Wednesday night into Thursday with significant river flooding potentially developing late this week into the weekend.

The agency has issued a flood watch for central and southern Indiana starting Wednesday evening and lasting through Sunday morning. They say that excessive runoff from the rain may lead to flooding of rivers, creeks, streams and other low-lying and flood prone locations.

They suggest that those living in areas prone to flooding should be prepared to take action should flooding develop.