Flooding closes Jay County schools, city hall and courthouse Tuesday

PORTLAND, Ind. (WANE) - Jay County Schools along with the City Hall and Jay County Courthouse are closed Tuesday because the buildings are flooded.

More than a food anda half of water covers some streets in downtown Portland.

The Salamonie River was supposed to crest at 7:00 p.m. Monday. The city had almost three inches of rain Sunday night. It may take a few days for the water levels to go down.

"We've had to do several rescues here in the county,” said Ralph Frazee, Jay County Emergency Management director.

The Salamonie River flooded when heavy rain combined with the melting snow. The measurement downtown Monday evening was 19 inches. Leaders with the city said this is the worst flooding Portland has ever seen.

It was a business nightmare inside Aker-Taylor Plumbing and Heating. The Aker family trudged through almost a foot of water as their livelihood floated away.

“Probably around 1:00 p.m. we had it coming into our shop and we couldn’t stop it,” said Brian Aker. “It just kept coming and coming. There are a lot of equipment parts underwater. We saved a lot of it but we just couldn’t get it all.

The event took the town by storm. Many, like the Akers, don't have flood insurance because they're surprisingly not in the flood plain.

Now folks around town are left waiting for things to clear up before the real clean up begins.

“Nothing has set in yet,” said Akers. “Another day or so it will.”

One of the videos and picture in the video tab were taken by Traci Evans at around 1 p.m. on Monday, February 28. To send weather pictures or video, e-mail them to photos@wane.com.