Evacuation Order in Place for Shelby County Due to Flooding

SHELBYVILLE, Ind.–A mandatory evacuation notice was issued Friday for people who live in flood-prone areas in Shelby County and Deni Ratekin, the county emergency management director, says they mean business.

“It was the sheriff and the fire department that went around and talked to all these people in low-lying areas before the order was in place, just to let them know what we’ve been doing,” said Ratekin. “So, yes, law enforcement has been involved.

He said the necessity of being rather aggressive with the message is because some people have not listened in the past.

“Historically the places we are looking at, we’ve had to send in the swift water rescue team to get people out because they wait too long to evacuate.”

As far as the flooding potential for the county, Ratekin said they had good indications Friday that the situation would not be good for those people.

“We do have some low-lying areas already that have the water up to the homes,” he said.