Mike Morrow has lived in Utica all his life — 70 years, within three blocks.
He’s not a stranger to what the Ohio River can do.
Morrow was a kid in the 1964 flood. He remembers thinking it was an adventure, and also getting in trouble for playing in the backwater.
In 1997, he got four feet of water in his home. In 2018, there was a lot of damage from just seven inches of water.
Morrow watched the water level around his house from a distance this week. It’s not far from the Utica Community Center on Fourth Street. He hoped it didn’t reach the woodworking tools he’d stored outside.
“People don't know what water can do to a home,” Morrow said. “You got to tear out your carpet. You gotta tear out your doors. You gotta tear out your drywall, the insulation, your kitchen cabinets, your hot water heater, your furnace, your air conditioner…all that stuff is gone.”
Officials declared a state of emergency last Friday. Utica Town Council president Steve Long said Tuesday around 50 homes had been fully or partially evacuated.
“There's the Ohio River,” he said, standing in a gazebo overlooking a flooded park and nearby homes. “The Ohio River should be a quarter mile that way. And we'll be glad to see it back over that way. This is the park over here; kids were fishing this morning in the park. You have to have something to laugh about, you know, if not, you cry.”
They’ve been through this before.
“The people that live on the river accept the flooding,” he said. “They know it’s there. If a new person buys in, he looks at the beauty side of the river, also got in his mind, ‘This river could come up and get me.’”
Residents prepare for major flooding, again
Ahead of the rising water, some residents used trucks to haul their belongings to drier ground. Morrow moved things out including a freezer full of meat and other appliances. A lot of other things, he moved to his second floor.
“You know what to do,” Morrow said. “It's not like a flash flood. Flash flood….you're over and done. You don't have time to get nothing. You just got to get yourself and get out. In river flooding, you've got two or three days.”
Morrow said he understands why people may decide to leave, if the work or stress gets to be too much.
It’s the people that have kept him here.
He and some friends gathered around the flooded area this week to talk.
“I don't know what it is, but the only time I see people that I haven't seen in 20-30 years is at a funeral or a flood,” he said. “Because everybody comes up here… to see each other.”
Craig and Teresa Gardone came to town Tuesday to check on property they inherited from her mother. Craig kayaked out, returning a little later with an update.
“A lot of woodwork, a lot of drywall,” he said of the home’s damage. “Most everything valuable is up on the second floor so all that’s going to be fine.”
Teresa said they’re lucky that it’s not their primary home getting flooded in Utica. It’s still going to be a lot of work.
“Well that’s life on the river,” Craig Gardone said. “You got to be ready for this, you never want it but it’s gonna happen possibly, so deal with it and move on.”
Drier days in sight
The town has been closed since Sunday to non-residents or people who don’t have specific business there, like helping family. Most roads into the area have been closed from flooding.
Long said it’s for safety and to make sure residents and leaders can get done what they need to. They plan to reopen next week.
“We're a small town, and we pretty much know everybody,” he said. “But you know, when you get a lot of people coming in, gawking and all that stuff, they get in the way,” he said.
As of Thursday afternoon, Long said water had receded, “maybe a coffee cup,” since its crest. Residents are tired, but he expects things to get moving soon. They have contractors scheduled to come in Saturday morning to start cleaning the muddy roads, some of which saw 10 feet of water. They’ll have dumpsters set up and meals for residents.
Some have been staying at a temporary shelter.
“We'll see what people are made of, when the water goes down,” he said. “You're going to come in, you're going to smile. People [are going to] have tears in their face. What can you do?
“But we'll get through this, and everybody's going to work, and the town is fully behind everybody. We'll do everything and anything we can and make it work.”
The widespread flooding has affected communities across Southern Indiana and the Louisville area. It came after days of heavy rain, which followed severe weather April 2 and 3. The National Weather Service has now confirmed eight tornadoes touched down in the area last week. That includes an EF-1 in New Albany and an EF-3 in Louisville.
Coverage of Southern Indiana is funded, in part, by Samtec Inc., the Hazel & Walter T. Bales Foundation, and the Caesars Foundation of Floyd County.
