Bush announces disaster aid for Indiana

INDIANAPOLIS – News that nine flood-stricken northern Indiana counties qualify for federal disaster aid was tempered Thursday by the forecast of a winter storm that threatened to complicate Gordon Cochran’s life anew.\n“This whole weather thing has us about killed,” the White County emergency management director said with a nervous chuckle Thursday as he stared at a forecast of up to 15 inches of snow that could begin melting by Monday.\nGov. Mitch Daniels’ office announced Thursday that Daniels had received a letter from President Bush declaring a major disaster and making federal funding available in Carroll, Cass, Elkhart, Fulton, Jasper, Marshall, Pulaski, Tippecanoe and White counties.\nFlooding that began Jan. 7 along the Tippecanoe River and other streams killed three people, including two children, and caused more than $33 million in damage throughout the nine counties. More than 800 homes were damaged, half either destroyed or heavily marred, Daniels said in his Jan. 23 aid request to Bush.\nCochran, who works out of an office in Monticello, about 75 miles northwest of Indianapolis, said five different areas of White County alone still have residents displaced by the flooding. Many are bunking with friends or family. The Red Cross closed its last emergency shelter about a week ago.\nThe availability of federal aid will speed the cleanup, Cochran explained. However, some areas of White County, including the community of Buffalo along the Tippecanoe River, still have flooded areas, he said.\nThe prospect of another large snow melt early next week, when the forecast calls for temperatures in the 40s and a chance of rain, left Cochran troubled Thursday. Melting snow and heavy rains preceded the January flooding.