Watershed Flood Data
This is the levels between December 4th to the 9th. The highest levels were at 3.38 feet and is the current levels. This is well below flooding levels of 8 feet (NOAA, 2022)
The current levels of water are low for the Little Calumet River - East Branch. The chart shows the levels currently at the 5.16 feet (NOAA, 2022). This level is much higher than the previous December 9th level of 3.38 feet. A rainstorm came through the area from December 14th through the 15th causing the levels to rise. This is still well below the 8 foot level for flooding and much lower than the highest amount of 12 feet (NOAA, 2022).
Flood Event of 2008
In September of 2008, the area around the Little Calumet River flooded and set record water level records (Fowler et al., 2010). The rain fell from September 12th to the 15th and dropped 2 to 11 inches throughout Northwest Indiana. The rain was sever in Lake, Porter and LaPorte County.
The map above shows the location of the stream gages and where they were measured after the 2008 storm (Fowler et al., 2010).
The reason for the massive flooding was two fold. The storm dropped at the most 11 inches of rain in 3 days which is well above the normal rain amount (Fowler et al., 2010).
On top of the rain that fell those days, it was an extremely wet spring and late summer. Between January and August of 2008, over 30 inches of rain fell which is 4 inches above the average rate (Fowler et al., 2010).
During early September, Hurricane Gustave and Hurricane Ike left the area extremely wet and saturated (Fowler et al, 2010). The area received three times the normal rainfall. Rainfalls were exceptionally high as you can see from the chart. This lead to flooding events because of the highly saturated soil and massive rainfalls. The levels of the Little Calumet River in Porter County reached broke previous levels due to this event (Fowler et al., 2010).
The impact was severe. There were 2 fatalities and numerous injuries and over 5000 evacuations or water rescues (Fowler et al., 2010). A 40 mile stretch of IN65 (a major highway in Northwest Indiana at connects NWI to Indianapolis) was closed for over 2 days till water receded. The eColi levels increased due to the flooding. Also, the sediment levels increased in Lake Michigan which lead to massive contamination to the lake (Fowler et al., 2010).
Reference
Fowler., K. K., Kim, M. H., Menke, C. D., & Arvin, D. V. (2010). Flood of September 2008 in Northwest Indiana. USGS. https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2010/1098/pdf/ofr2010-1098.pdf
NOAA. (2022). Advance hydrologic prediction service. https://water.weather.gov/ahps2/hydrograph.php?wfo=lot&gage=prti3
Source: Fowler et al.
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