When quickly rising water levels threatened to break through the aging levee after midnight Saturday, Indianapolis officials gave the order to evacuate Rocky Ripple.
But Mike Kiefer, the town marshal, wasn’t leaving the tiny flood-prone town Aug. 15. That led to a brief “standoff” at the 53rd Street bridge, some residents recalled.
“I never threatened anybody,” Kiefer told Mirror Indy. “I just said I’m not going to let a wall go up there without throwing a fit.”
Others remember more choice words being exchanged, but regardless of what was said, Rocky Ripple residents say the actions of Kiefer, City-County Councilor John Barth, and hundreds of volunteers helped prevent the town from being destroyed by historic flooding.
And those issues weren’t limited to Rocky Ripple. Residents in the flood-affected areas of Ravenswood and north Broad Ripple said they received conflicting information about when to evacuate and where to go for safety. Others said the evacuation orders from Indianapolis came too late.
Communities along the White River to the north had already been experiencing severe flooding, including in Muncie, Anderson, Noblesville and Carmel.
“Water flows downriver. We know this,” said Marie Hitze, who has worked in the fields of emergency management and public health for more than a decade. “A lot of comments I’ve seen are, ‘You can’t plan for a flood like this.’ Yes you can. That’s the job of emergency management.”
When asked whether residents should have been given more time to evacuate, Mayor Joe Hogsett said city officials were working with the best information available.
“We made sure people were aware of what we were aware of, as quickly as was reasonable,” Hogsett said. “I do think that prompt action probably saved some property, but the truth is we really won’t know how much damage was done until we do a comprehensive assessment, and that may take several weeks.”
Daniel Stevenson, deputy director of policy and planning for the city’s Department of Public Works, said the Metropolitan Emergency Services Agency called a coordination meeting Friday morning after the National Weather Service indicated that flooding would reach levels up to 19 feet.
At 6 p.m. Friday, residents in Rocky Ripple, Ravenswood and parts of north Broad Ripple were encouraged to make arrangements to stay outside of the area overnight. Two hours later, Hogsett signed an executive order declaring a local disaster emergency, giving various city agencies the authority to impose restrictions on public access to roads and bridges.
“It is also important to note that the river crest time evolved throughout this flood event,” Stevenson added.
Barth, who represents the Rocky Ripple area, said a post-incident review is needed “because there were a lot of communication issues.”
Jacob Spence, director of emergency management for Marion County, said at an Aug. 19 meeting of the Rocky Ripple Town Council that multiple city agencies, in coordination with the town, will develop an after-action report that will analyze the city’s response to the flooding and make recommendations for improvements going forward.
“I’ve been in public safety for 26 years. There’s plenty of stuff that we can work on and do better,” Spence said.
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Photos: Rocky Ripple residents fight against floodwaters
Hundreds of volunteers bagged and placed sandbags around the levee to stop flooding from the White River on Aug. 15.
Last-minute evacuation orders
People living in Rocky Ripple and other areas affected by flooding said they were given little time to evacuate.
Around 8 p.m. Friday, residents in Rocky Ripple were told to stop making sandbags and evacuate. But many in the town of 700 refused to leave.
Randy Sanders, the president of Rocky Ripple Town Council, said that ultimately saved the town from destruction.
“They told us to walk away from our sandbags, and because we didn’t, we’re here,” Sanders said.
Kiefer said he was told that city officials planned to close the 53rd Street bridge, which he said ran contrary to past statements made by officials with the city’s Department of Public Works. Once all of the flood gates are closed, the townspeople have to leave or they’ll be trapped.
“We were assured time and time again: Those gates would not go up until there was already four or five feet of water inside Rocky Ripple,” Kiefer said. “But we weren’t there yet.”
And so the bridge remained open, allowing volunteers to continue to bring in more sandbags to support the levee.
An Indy DPW spokesperson told Mirror Indy the department never issued orders to close the floodgate at 53rd Street.
“The 53rd Street gate sits at a higher elevation than the one at 52nd Street and flooding never reached the level to necessitate closure,” said Stevenson, DPW’s deputy director of policy and planning. “We are thankful these levels were never reached, as they continued to allow residents of the Town of Rocky Ripple an accessible egress path to safely evacuate.”
Some residents in nearby Ravenswood said they weren’t given sufficient notice to evacuate.
When it became apparent that the neighborhood was in trouble Friday night, Kat Stuart worked with two other neighbors to create a Facebook page to keep everyone informed. Without clear direction from city officials, she said, residents were forced to take matters into their own hands.
“Coordination is lacking. It’s us doing it,” Stuart said.
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Indianapolis flood relief resources
Where to find shelter, food, clothes and pet supplies.
Others think city officials could have done a better job communicating the potential dangers to residents ahead of time, especially given the flooding and evacuation of communities to the north.
“It should’ve been done earlier. We knew this was coming,” said Hitze, the emergency management expert. “Telling folks on Friday evening very late that there’s gonna be potential evacuations, and then doing things in the wee hours of the morning when people are asleep, isn’t adequate.”
What’s next
Following a disaster situation, emergency management officials will work to put together what’s known as an after-action report.
The analysis will include key takeaways for improvement and identify potential weaknesses that may have hampered response times.
Hitze said city officials should have been better prepared, given that the city has experienced flooding before.
“I don’t know if there was inaction or hesitancy or not wanting to propagate fear, but there has to come a point where you say, ‘Why weren’t officials empowered to make these decisions and notifications earlier, and why are we not having more response and action from across the city-county government?’”
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Peter Blanchard covers local government. Reach him at 317-605-4836 or peter.blanchard@mirrorindy.org. Follow him on X @peterlblanchard.
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