Northwest Indiana town cleaning up from water tower collapse

GOODLAND, Ind. — Residents of a small town in northwestern Indiana are cleaning up and trying to figure out what caused its 250,000-gallon water tower to collapse into a pile of twisted metal and rubble.

Homes and businesses in the Newton County town of Goodland were without water service for about 10 hours after the tower collapsed late Monday. The collapse sent a surge of water that tore the siding off several nearby homes in the town of about 1,000 people.

No one was hurt, but the water also knocked down some fences and moved sheds feet from where they had stood for years.

“I thought a plane hit it,” Mike Mielke, who lives across the street from the tower, told WLFI-TV.

Town Council President Jim Butler said the tower was built in the early 1960s and was inspected every five years.

“It was coming up next summer for another routine (check), but we had no indication there was any problems at all with the tower,” Butler said.

Officials in the town about 30 miles northwest of Lafayette don’t yet know how long it will take to replace the tower — or the cost.

“I’ve heard reports anywhere from three to nine months,” Butler told the Journal & Courier. “We’re working with insurance companies and engineers. We’re exploring options and getting quotes.”

Butler said the town was bringing in portable tanks to store water just in case of a fire or other emergency.

Jeremy Joseph said the late-night collapse shook his nearby house, with rocks breaking a window and pebbles, mud and sand caking its siding.

“I have three kids that live with me. Little boys,” Joseph said. “I don’t know what they could have done if that would have happened in the daytime.”