Search Underway for Man Lost in Southern Indiana Floodwaters
CORTLAND, Ind. — Indiana conservation officers on Friday were searching for a man who went missing during the morning in Jackson County floodwaters.
The incident was one of two early Friday on State Road 258 in Jackson County, authorities said.
A news release issued Friday afternoon from the Indiana Department of Natural Resources said the man who was the subject of the continuing search had disappeared after an airboat capsized around 7:20 a.m. Friday near County Road 400 East and State Road 258, and near the unincorporated community of Cortland. That’s about 3 miles west of Seymour, near Indian Creek.
The release said high water levels, a swift current and floating debris were hampering the search efforts, which were expected to continue through Friday evening. Multiple agencies were part of the rescue efforts.
The conservation officers think two people in an airboat were attempting to assist other people stranded in a submerged vehicle. Their airboat experienced mechanical issues and was forced under a nearby bridge by swift water. No names of the people involved were in the release.
The operator of the airboat reached safety. The airboat passenger was last seen in the water downstream from where the vessel capsized.
Investigators confirmed that neither person in the airboat was wearing a life jacket.
The other rescue happened earlier Friday on State Road 258. The Hamilton Township Volunteer Fire Department on Facebook said it was called to the rescue of people in a car just after 6 a.m. Friday. Those people were rescued.
The fire department said it made at least five rescues on Thursday involving vehicles that drove through floodwaters.
Information from the National Weather Service showed that levels on the East Fork of the White River through Seymour on Thursday night reached the sixth-highest on record. Levels were dropped on Friday afternoon, but more rain, which is in the Storm Track 8 forecast, could send floodwaters higher.
The National Weather Service at Indianapolis had multiple flood warnings in effect Friday night for central Indiana.
Conservation Officer Jim Schreck told News 8, “Don’t drive into floodwaters. If it looks too deep, obviously turn around. Secondly, if you’re near water, whether you’re in a boat or near water, trying to render aid to someone, put a life jacket on.”
Lt. Dane Duke of Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Office recorded at least a dozen people rescued from flooding since Wednesday. The office urged neighbors to contact professionals for assistance if stuck in floodwaters. “Proper training and proper equipment make all the difference in the world, and I would never want to put others in unnecessary danger.”
Duke said floodwaters may not look deep, but it takes very little for a vehicle to get disabled, stuck, or pulled by swift currents. “We’re continuing to have people disregard signs and go around them. More often or not, they do make it through, but that is for their safety, and sometimes they do not.”
Extreme heat and flooding are the No. 1 and 2 causes of death related to weather in the U.S.
Cortland is about an 80-minute drive south-southeast of downtown Indianapolis.
