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At least five people are dead after devastating floods that swept through Indiana this week, officials said, as storms continued to batter the state on Saturday and first responders used boats to rescue more people from rising waters in neighborhoods along the White River in Indianapolis.
The mayor of Indianapolis, Joe Hogsett, and other state officials implored residents in areas at risk of flooding to heed any evacuation warnings at a news conference.
“Six inches of water can stall out any vehicle. Eight inches of water can move a vehicle off a road. And then three inches of water can actually take somebody off their feet too. Flooded water is very, very dangerous,” Jerry Martin, the deputy chief of the Indianapolis fire department, said at the briefing.
“The water is still rising. And it will be rising all day long,” Todd Wilson, director of the city’s public works department, said at the news conference.
Farther east in Delaware county, sheriff’s deputies on Friday found the body of a 58-year-old woman whom they believe died after trying to drive through floodwaters. They also recovered the body of a teenager who was first reported missing on Wednesday after jumping into a river. Earlier in the week, a four-year-old boy was killed after a tree fell on his home in Jennings county.
Flash flood warnings were issued for north-eastern Hendricks county and northern Marion county in central Indiana.
Authorities described the deluge’s effects as unlike anything seen in roughly 30 years.
The National Weather Service reported that more than 11in (28cm) of rain fell over a two-day period in some areas. The White River crested at more than 24ft (7.32 meters) in the communities of Anderson and Noblesville, surpassing records set in 1913.
The unprecedented nature of the flooding has stretched the capacity of first responders. Officials also said flooding had been observed in areas not historically affected.
Mike Braun, Indiana’s Republican governor, confirmed on Saturday that Donald Trump intended to approve his request for federal resources to help in response to the flooding and the recovery. Trump has approved a higher percentage of aid requests for Republican-led states than for Democratic-led states in his second term, according to research for the nonpartisan Urban Institute.
Authorities estimated that about 400 people evacuated parts of northern Indianapolis on their own, while the governor’s office reported more than 350 evacuations had occurred in Delaware county and that a senior mobile home community in Tipton county was being evacuated. Rescues and welfare checks also were happening in Fayette county.
Rita Reith, a spokesperson with the Indianapolis fire department, said 95 people and 45 pets had been rescued as of late afternoon. Dispatchers had received hundreds of calls for service throughout the day.
As of Saturday afternoon, more than 150,000 people were experiencing power outages, according to the northern Indiana public service company.
