Heavy rains cause flooding throughout state

A Labor Day weekend storm deluged parts of the state with as much as 9 inches of rain and sent many residents running to sandbags still wet from earlier summer floods. A driver who was swept away in floodwaters was missing and feared dead.\n"We're not afraid. We're just astonished," said Latrelle Corbin, 61, of Indianapolis, where a record 7.2 inches of rain fell Monday. "We've never seen rain like this before."\nA front across the Ohio Valley combined with moisture from the Gulf of Mexico brought heavy rain to central Indiana and lighter rain to other areas of the state, forecasters said.\nFlood warnings were holding Tuesday for 35 Indiana counties following the thunderstorms, which National Weather Service forecasters expect to continue in places through Thursday.\nThe White River was expected to reach its highest level since April 1964 in communities northeast of Indianapolis. The river was rising in Muncie and Anderson at a rate of about 4 inches per hour Wednesday morning.\nIn Marion County, which includes Indianapolis, the worst flooding appeared to be over, with waters expected to slowly recede. Floodwaters along Fall Creek reached the highest level since modern record keeping began in March 1913.\nFurther downstream to the southwest, flood levels along the White River in Morgan County could approach those of the March 1913 flood, the weather service said. Serious flooding also was expected in neighboring Owen County late Wednesday and Thursday.\nRainfall in Indianapolis on Monday broke a more than century-old, single-day record for rainfall, said Steve Haines, a weather service meteorologist. The previous record of 6.8 inches was set Sept. 4, 1895.\nThe weather service reported Tuesday that 4 to 9 inches of rain had fallen across parts of central Indiana since Sunday morning, causing flooding in areas of Marion County that rarely flood.\nPolice divers continued looking for a driver who was swept away while attempting to cross Fall Creek in Indianapolis.\nTo the north, more than an inch of rain was reported in Fort Wayne and about three-fourths of an inch in South Bend. Rainfall totals were less than an inch in southern Indiana.\nThere were no immediate reports on the number of homes flooded or otherwise damaged. The American Red Cross opened emergency shelters in Hendricks and Marion counties to assist flood victims.\nIn Carmel, several streets were closed due to flooding. Stores there sold out of about 100 sump pumps Monday, Ellis said. His store sent a worker to a warehouse in Princeton, Ill., so more would be available for sale Tuesday.\nIn Hendricks County, west of Indianapolis, a dispatcher said a county road near the small town of North Salem was washed out by floodwaters.\nResidents in Henry County east of Indianapolis blamed tornado-like winds for damaging several homes in New Castle. The weather service had not confirmed whether a tornado touched down.