South Bend dealing with flooding 2 days after record storm

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) - A storm that dumped more than eight inches of rain in less than 24 hours in South Bend earlier this week collapsed two houses and the foundations of seven more, city and state officials said Thursday.

"It's important to stress that billions of gallons of water is working its way through the system. That means some of the damage that is happening to roads may not have even occurred yet," Mayor Pete Buttigieg said.

No deaths or injuries were reported. More than 700 people have contacted the city's emergency management hotline and the Red Cross to report damage to homes and businesses. The National Weather Service said 8.49 inches of rain fell on the city from late Monday morning through late Tuesday morning, which it termed a once-in-a-thousand-years event.

More rain fell Thursday and the weather service was predicting additional rain Friday and Saturday.

Three roads remained closed in the city because of the flooding, and more than a dozen county roads also are closed. The city is transforming from rapid response mode to recovery mode, Buttigieg said.

"Many of the toughest days are actually in the days to come because it's going to take a very long time for some of this water to go away," he said. "In the days coming ahead frustration is going to set in.

"People need to understand this is a thousand-year rain event. With the amount of water in some roadways and in some basements, it's not an amount of water that can be removed by a pump or a truck or draining operation. You just have to wait for it to recede."

Crews will be out inspecting road damage in the days ahead, city and county officials said.

John Antonucci, the county's director of emergency management, said information about the extent of the damage needs to be compiled before a decision is made about seeking state or federal financial assistance.