Storms and rainfall brought historic flooding to Indiana in recent days, with the White River reaching levels not seen in more than 100 years
Credit: WTHR/YouTube
NEED TO KNOW
- An Indiana woman was amazed to find her wedding ring in deep floodwater inside her Noblesville home
- “I just happened to feel it, and it was right there,” Laura Sewell said of her ring
- Storms and rainfall brought historic flooding to Indiana in recent days, with the White River reaching levels not seen in more than 100 years
Indiana woman Laura Sewell lost her home to the devastating flooding caused by storms that began sweeping the state last week — but she miraculously salvaged one sentimental item in the deep water.
Sewell and her husband were forced to evacuate their home in the hard-hit Riverwood neighborhood of Noblesville on Friday morning, Aug. 14, after waking up to discover water filling their home as the White River — which runs through much of central and southern Indiana — reached an historic 24.6 feet, per WTHR.
“We knew it was coming up, but we’ve been here for 28 years, and it’s no big deal,” Laura said while speaking with the outlet. “We’ve seen it come to the backyard before, but it’s never gotten in the house, so we didn’t realize it until about 5:30 a.m. [on Friday], and it was already about four inches in the house.”
She said they were initially awoken by their dog sloshing around in the water. They grabbed the pet and their grandson and “took refuge” at a friend’s house down the street.
“She said, ‘Come to our house.’ Well, her house ended up flooding, too,” Sewell said. “We didn’t realize how bad it was going to be. I don’t think anybody did.”
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She recalled that when they left their house, it was still pitch-black outside and the water didn’t appear to be rising too fast. They didn’t take anything with them, and Sewell had left her wedding ring on an end table.
When they later returned home and assessed the damage, water lines indicated that there was likely 5 feet of water in parts of the house. Appliances were knocked over, and there was mud everywhere. Sewell and her husband even found that a drawer from the refrigerator had ended up in a bathroom, far from the kitchen.
As for her wedding ring, Sewell feared it was lost for good.
“The end table was turned over, and all this junk was all over the floor,” she remembered, explaining that she started to feel around in the floodwater until, suddenly, she found her ring.
“I just happened to feel it, and it was right there by [a small figurine of] Jesus, especially when I found Jesus, because I’ve not always been a religious person. Now, I’m overwhelmed,” she said.
Credit: Michael Hickey/Getty
Sewell said her home is likely a total loss, and none of her family photos survived the floodwater.
“Pretty upsetting, pretty devastating,” she said of the situation, while vowing to rebuild once the water recedes.
“We’ll be fine. We’ll make it through,” she insisted.
Seven storm-related deaths have been confirmed since storms began hitting the state on Tuesday, Aug. 11, according to a statement from the Indiana State Emergency Operations Center.
The deaths include a 19-year-old man in Delaware County, a 58-year-old woman in Delaware County, a 4-year-old boy in Jennings County, a 58-year-old woman in Lake County, an 86-year-old woman in Porter County, a 32-year-old man in LaPorte County and a 31-year-old man in Henry County.
The record-breaking storms caused “catastrophic flooding for portions of central Indiana,” per the National Weather Service, as rainfall of more than 11 inches was reported in some areas. The White River reached levels not seen since 1913 in some areas, according to the Associated Press.
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