The rain flood · August 2016

15–16 AUGUST 2016

The first of the two great floods was not the river's work: On the night of 15–16 August 2016, rain fell on South Bend and St. Joseph County at one to two inches an hour for hours. The National Weather Service's event summary records localized amounts exceeding eight inches; the city's own engineers, in the post-flood study that followed the second flood, put the figure at about eight and a half inches over twelve hours over part of the watershed; and the Weather Prediction Center's storm summary carried a storm total of 10.67 inches for South Bend and St. Joseph County across the week's rains. The numbers measure different things — the night, the twelve hours, the week — and are printed as each source states them. The city's engineers were explicit about the mechanism: the 2016 flood came out of the upper portions of the watersheds, the storm sewers and the low ground, with, in their words, "very little, if any, flooding attributed to the river." It was the drainage, not the St. Joseph, that failed.

The night itself, from the official storm reports: South Bend's stormwater systems were quickly overwhelmed; several feet of water stood in some city streets; at least a dozen water rescues were forced; at 1:00 a.m. the Weather Service's summary for the city counted at least twelve roads closed, vehicles stranded, and at least two homes with foundation damage. The damage counting that followed, in the Tribune's reporting of the Red Cross and county assessments, grew by the day: city officials' first count found 22 destroyed structures, 15 with major damage and 10 with minor damage; of some 450 homes inspected by Wednesday, 37 were destroyed or had major damage; the county emergency management director put the reports pushing toward 1,000 homes affected, about 100 of them severely damaged. The heavily flooded Jewell Woods neighborhood sits south of the city, on county ground, and is printed as the county's. City officials called the rainfall a once-in-a-millennium occurrence — the public works director's position was that no storm system could have handled it — and the mayor noted that the city had come through it without any reported casualties. The federal answer came as a Small Business Administration disaster declaration for the county, under which disaster loans topped $1.2 million. The county's damage toll is carried at two figures in the record and both are printed: $4.5 million, the figure the county's emergency management director was using for August 2016 when February 2018's flood surpassed it; and $5.1 million, the property-damage figure for the county event as compiled from NOAA's Storm Events database.

Sources:

1. National Weather Service, Northern Indiana (IWX), "Flash flooding across portions of northwestern Indiana August 15 2016" — rainfall rates of one to two inches per hour, localized amounts exceeding eight inches, the overwhelmed stormwater systems, several feet of water in streets, at least a dozen water rescues, and the 1:00 a.m. storm report for South Bend (at least twelve roads closed, stranded vehicles, at least two homes with foundation damage).
2. NOAA Weather Prediction Center, Storm Summary No. 18 for the heavy rainfall of August 2016 — the storm-total rainfall of 10.67 inches at "South Bend/St. Joe" for the period 9–16 August.
3. Lawson-Fisher Associates, Post-Flooding Investigation of Four Neighborhoods Along the St. Joseph River, for the City of South Bend (August 2018) — the 2016 event's about 8.5 inches over a twelve-hour duration, its origin in the upper watersheds, and "very little, if any, flooding attributed to the river."
4. South Bend Tribune, August 2016 (via Insurance News Net) — the Red Cross counts (22 destroyed, 15 major, 10 minor; 37 of some 450 inspected destroyed or with major damage), the emergency management director's figures approaching 1,000 homes affected and about 100 severely damaged, the once-in-a-millennium characterization and the public works director's statement, and the mayor's statement that no casualties were reported.
5. U.S. Small Business Administration, disaster declaration IN-14833 (2016) — disaster loans for the county's August 15–16, 2016 rainfall damage, 26 loans approved for $1,244,000 at the release's date.
6. South Bend Tribune, 23 February 2018 — the county's August 2016 toll stated as $4.5 million; flood-risk compilations of NOAA's Storm Events database — $5.1 million in property damage for the county event. The two figures are printed together, as found.