We are in a campground in Central Indiana and have had a lot of rain. The campground is next to a creek but has a huge levy that seperates the water from the campers. This morning the levy was breached and flooded the campground. The water came up so fast we could not get out in time. Luckily this campground is mostly permanant week end campers so most of the rigs were empty. The Fire Dept had to rescue us and a few others using a large pay loader (we rode in the bucket). Our site was a little higher then some around us but no way we could have tried to drive out because of the low ground between us and the office. Our truck is parked in front of the motorhome and the water was at the floor boards when we were rescued. We are praying the water will crest before coming inside our home but that is probably not likely. They said the crest should happen tonight at 8pm. I was really sad when they carried us up to the higher ground and I could see our cargo trailer (with our Harley inside) parked in the overflow parking which was sitting in several feet of water.
We are safe and at a nearby relatives house. We did have the chance to grab our "bail out bag" so have our important papers and gathered up our medicines and a change of clothes.
-- Edited by Workinrvers on Friday 19th of April 2013 01:03:15 PM
Ckerr said
08:13 PM Apr 19, 2013
So sorry to hear that Phil and Rudee. I'm glad to know you got out safely. Prayers that damage will be minimal.
WestWardHo said
08:19 PM Apr 19, 2013
Oh I am so,sorry Phil & Rudee! How frightening and how sad. Glad you're safe with relatives. Wishing you the very best outcome!
Sherry
Lucky Mike said
08:24 PM Apr 19, 2013
It saddens me to hear this ..........heartfelt thoughts and prayer go out to you ......please keep us informed on how this plays out
Mike & Nikki
Workinrvers said
08:38 PM Apr 19, 2013
thanks everyone. We had plenty of insurance and both of us are former adjusters so we know the game well. The kicker is we are supposed to be at Mount Rushmore in less than 2 weeks for a work camping job. We have been really looking forward to that and not sure what our status will be in the next couple of days.
Phil
PIEERE said
08:41 PM Apr 19, 2013
Workinrvers wrote:
We are in a campground in Central Indiana and have had a lot of rain. The campground is next to a creek but has a huge levy that seperates the water from the campers. This morning the levy was breached and flooded the campground. The water came up so fast we could not get out in time. Luckily this campground is mostly permanant week end campers so most of the rigs were empty. The Fire Dept had to rescue us and a few others using a large pay loader (we rode in the bucket). Our site was a little higher then some around us but no way we could have tried to drive out because of the low ground between us and the office. Our truck is parked in front of the motorhome and the water was at the floor boards when we were rescued. We are praying the water will crest before coming inside our home but that is probably not likely. They said the crest should happen tonight at 8pm. I was really sad when they carried us up to the higher ground and I could see our cargo trailer (with our Harley inside) parked in the overflow parking which was sitting in several feet of water.
We are safe and at a nearby relatives house. We did have the chance to grab our "bail out bag" so have our important papers and gathered up our medicines and a change of clothes.
My condolences to the both of you; even when one has insurance; thank God you are safe!! Hope the water receds soon!!
-- Edited by Workinrvers on Friday 19th of April 2013 01:03:15 PM
Bill and Linda said
09:17 PM Apr 19, 2013
Phil and Rudee:
This saddens me a great deal for you.It also sits a bit close to home.
My parents (full-timers for over 3 decades) had a similar thing happen by a river in the mountains: heavy rain with a resultant flash flood.They were very lucky and just barely got the Airstream and all thier belongings out with water at the floorboards of the Suburban after wading in deep water to get there.
Let us all keep in mind this can happen to anyone and also be aware of the possibile need to exit a flood area quickly and in time as you did.Proper insurance can replace almost everything – except your lives.
Hoping for a quick recovery for you
God bless
Bill
sdman said
10:04 PM Apr 19, 2013
WOW! So sorry to here about this. We know the area very well as we stay at the Sugar creek campround in Crawfordsvile when we are in the area. My son just posted a picture of it under water on Facebook.
Wishing you well!
Mark and Patty
bigboomer said
11:52 PM Apr 19, 2013
We are so sad for you.....but we also see that you have a great attitude and will get thru this. We will say a prayer for you that you have comfort and that all works out in the end.
Les and Sue
leno said
12:02 AM Apr 20, 2013
Prayers and good thoughts that the outcome will be a good one. The most important thing, is that you both got out and are safe..
Cindy T said
12:50 AM Apr 20, 2013
What an awful situation! So glad you got out safely. It's not fun to replace all your things but at least they can be replaced, if necessary. Stay safe!
Terry and Jo said
01:10 AM Apr 20, 2013
Phil and Rudee,
Jo and I are thinking and praying for you as well. While we've never had to experience flooding of our own place, we have seen one here in Oklahoma. Back a few years ago, Oklahoma got record rains and the river near us flooded, but never got high enough to close the road. Of course, they had really built up the roadbed because of the river. We lived on the ridge just to the south of it and had no problems.
Other than having to mow a lot.
Hopefully, things will recede soon enough that your coach won't suffer too much damage, and that you can get on with life.
Terry
Hdrider said
02:11 AM Apr 20, 2013
I sure hate to hear that. But am very happy that you are safe. Thats the main thing even though we can forget that in the moment.
Alie and Jims Carrilite said
02:18 AM Apr 20, 2013
We may be in NC, but send us a PM if there's anything we can help with.
A small side note, I lost most everything in a flood in NC, 2 little back to back storms named Dennis and Floyd. Helicopter showed the roof peak of my shop, 18' above the ground, just about under water. Couldn't even see the house. Its what insurance is for, but ya hate to have to use it for something like this.
RickandJanice said
02:20 AM Apr 20, 2013
Our prayers go out for you!!!
NWescapee said
07:34 AM Apr 20, 2013
Prayers and hopes are with you and thanks for helping me put things in perspective. I was having a "pitty party" with over a 1 week delay in getting our truck/5ver home due to issues with first the truck and now the trailer. Hoping and praying for a good outcome!!
Workinrvers said
09:42 AM Apr 20, 2013
NWescapee wrote:
Prayers and hopes are with you and thanks for helping me put things in perspective. I was having a "pitty party" with over a 1 week delay in getting our truck/5ver home due to issues with first the truck and now the trailer. Hoping and praying for a good outcome!!
Wednesday a brand new 5th Wheel was parked next to us and the owners were in and out of it bringing in their belongings. They had not even spent the night in it prior to the flood. The water had not reached the basement level on either of ours when we left (it was getting real close though). We drove back over just before dark last evening. The road into the campground was still closed and had water flowing over it. We could get to w/i 1/4 mile of the campground but our rig is towards the back so we really couldn't see anything. I talked to one of the workers and he said the water was starting to drop and had gone down about 1' so we are hoping we can get back to the rig tonight and see where we stand.
Thanks all for the kind words, it means more than you know to have someone to lean on that understands our RV lifestyle.
Phil and Rudee
2riker2go said
12:49 PM Apr 20, 2013
Phil and Rudee,
I am just now getting on the forum for the first time in a couple days, and am SO sorry to hear this news. What a nightmare! Thank God you guys are ok though, and were able to get out safely. I hope that when you get back in you get some good news.
janni said
03:25 PM Apr 20, 2013
Thoughts and prayers for you. I cannot imagine the devastation but glad to read that you are both safe. So sad :(
HarrynCathy said
04:44 PM Apr 20, 2013
Our prayers are with you. The Lord willing you will recover.
Technomadia said
05:17 PM Apr 20, 2013
So sorry for what you are going through, the anxiousness of not knowing what you are dealing I can only imagine as being nervewracking.
I hope you have access to your home soon, and wish you strength and positivity as you navigate the steps ahead. Thank goodness for getting out in time and for having ample insurance (and knowledge).
- Cherie
WestWardHo said
06:57 PM Apr 20, 2013
Phil & Rudee,
That's great news. Listen closely to Allie & Jim, sound like great advice from experienced RVers. So happy for you and hope you get to workamping on time!
Sherry & Jesse
-- Edited by WestWardHo on Saturday 20th of April 2013 06:57:42 PM
Workinrvers said
10:08 PM Apr 20, 2013
We went to the campground at first light and the water had receded enough for us to walk into the sites. We had to stick to the high ground and got with in one row of our rig before we had to start wading....... brrrrr that water was cold. I am happy to report the rig and Dakota are in good shape. The water rose to about 3" into our basement storage compartments/ Luckily we don't store anything on the floor of the compartments that will be damaged by water. The interior is absolutly dry and in good shape, thank God for that.
The Dakota is also fine. The water level came to the bottom of the bumper and the floorboards so no water inside at all. Two sites down from us they lost both their Dodge Charger and their Jeep Cherokee with water over the dash of both vehicles. We were very very fortunate.
The Harley didn't fair as well. The water was up to the bottom of the seat and covered most of the engine. The cargo trailer has about 1" of mud on the wood floor. We did a quick look, took a few photos and closed the door back up.
The first of the Insurance adjusters will be out Tuesday morning for the trailer and we are waiting on a call for the adjuster on the motorcycle.
One more night at the in-laws and we will be going back home to stay. The rest of the water should be gone by then and we are praying for sunny skies. I will post some photos of the campground that we took today on my blog in a few hours.
Thanks everyone for your thoughts, prayers and kind words. We are truly blessed and are thankful things were not worse than what they ended up being.
Phil and Rudee
FOSJ said
10:33 PM Apr 20, 2013
That's the best news! Hope everything gets back on track and you guys can be on your way!
Alie and Jims Carrilite said
10:39 PM Apr 20, 2013
Go buy some gear lube for the Dakota rear axle, oil for the engine and some trannsmission fluid. Do a fluid change on everything before you crank it. Especially the transmission. Do the same with the motor home. Hopefully the rear axle seals are good and you don't have any issues. Your brakes could stand to be cleaned to get the silt out too. Do the same with any fluids on both vehicles. Changing the fluids several times in the next couple of hundred miles is the best way to get moisture out of any systems.
NWescapee said
04:20 AM Apr 21, 2013
Happy to hear it wasn't near as bad as it could have been. Good luck with the clean up.
Are you still headed to the work camping job at Mount Rushmore?
Terry and Jo said
04:59 AM Apr 21, 2013
It's good that your damage seems to be minimal, although any damage is horrendous.
Thoughts and prayers are with the two of you.
Terry
bigboomer said
03:45 PM Apr 21, 2013
Great news....sorry to hear about the Harley....but that is pale in comparison of what could have happened.
Make sure you double check all the electric and other items just in case.
We will continue to pray for a good outcome overall.
Safe travels to Mt. Rushmore.
Les
Workinrvers said
05:55 PM Apr 21, 2013
NWescapee wrote:
Happy to hear it wasn't near as bad as it could have been. Good luck with the clean up.
Are you still headed to the work camping job at Mount Rushmore?
Yes we are still planning on work camping there. We are hoping we can get everything taken care of with the adjusters, or at least get the inspections completed, before the end of next week. As soon as that is all done we will head out. The plan right now is if they determine the bike is repairable we will take it to the Harley dealer in Rapid City and just have everything repaired there. Should the bike be totaled (most likely) then we will leave the trailer here at our daughters and head out towing the Dakota. We may find another bike later this summer and if so we can always rent a U-haul to get it back to Indiana.
Either way we will be heading back out on the road soon but are not exactly sure what day.
flyone said
09:15 PM Apr 21, 2013
Phil---wow thank God you and Rudee are ok. Also thank goodness that things didn't get as bad as you thought at the RV, sory about motorcycle--good insurance will help but I know you really liked the one you had. I wish you the best with everything, and be careful heading out to Mt. Rushmore. Maybe we will catch up with you out there, we are supposed to be in that area in early July.
Flyone
Workinrvers said
12:44 AM Apr 22, 2013
flyone wrote:
Phil---wow thank God you and Rudee are ok. Also thank goodness that things didn't get as bad as you thought at the RV, sory about motorcycle--good insurance will help but I know you really liked the one you had. I wish you the best with everything, and be careful heading out to Mt. Rushmore. Maybe we will catch up with you out there, we are supposed to be in that area in early July.
Flyone
Please look us up when you are there. We will be working at the bookstores at Mt. Rushmore for the historical society, not sure of what kind of schedule we are looking at since the monument is open until 10pm in season but we only work a max. of 8 hrs per day and have 2 days off per week so shoot me a PM and we'll get together.
Phil
happy paddler said
07:38 PM Apr 23, 2013
I am so sorry. Thankful you are safe and have relatives to help.Thoughts and prayers!
We are in a campground in Central Indiana and have had a lot of rain. The campground is next to a creek but has a huge levy that seperates the water from the campers. This morning the levy was breached and flooded the campground. The water came up so fast we could not get out in time. Luckily this campground is mostly permanant week end campers so most of the rigs were empty. The Fire Dept had to rescue us and a few others using a large pay loader (we rode in the bucket). Our site was a little higher then some around us but no way we could have tried to drive out because of the low ground between us and the office. Our truck is parked in front of the motorhome and the water was at the floor boards when we were rescued. We are praying the water will crest before coming inside our home but that is probably not likely. They said the crest should happen tonight at 8pm. I was really sad when they carried us up to the higher ground and I could see our cargo trailer (with our Harley inside) parked in the overflow parking which was sitting in several feet of water.
We are safe and at a nearby relatives house. We did have the chance to grab our "bail out bag" so have our important papers and gathered up our medicines and a change of clothes.
-- Edited by Workinrvers on Friday 19th of April 2013 01:03:15 PM
Glad you're safe with relatives. Wishing you the very best outcome!
Sherry
Mike & Nikki
Phil
Phil and Rudee:
This saddens me a great deal for you. It also sits a bit close to home.
My parents (full-timers for over 3 decades) had a similar thing happen by a river in the mountains: heavy rain with a resultant flash flood. They were very lucky and just barely got the Airstream and all thier belongings out with water at the floorboards of the Suburban after wading in deep water to get there.
Let us all keep in mind this can happen to anyone and also be aware of the possibile need to exit a flood area quickly and in time as you did. Proper insurance can replace almost everything – except your lives.
Hoping for a quick recovery for you
God bless
Bill
WOW! So sorry to here about this. We know the area very well as we stay at the Sugar creek campround in Crawfordsvile when we are in the area. My son just posted a picture of it under water on Facebook.
Wishing you well!
Mark and Patty
What an awful situation! So glad you got out safely. It's not fun to replace all your things but at least they can be replaced, if necessary. Stay safe!
Phil and Rudee,
Jo and I are thinking and praying for you as well. While we've never had to experience flooding of our own place, we have seen one here in Oklahoma. Back a few years ago, Oklahoma got record rains and the river near us flooded, but never got high enough to close the road. Of course, they had really built up the roadbed because of the river. We lived on the ridge just to the south of it and had no problems.
Other than having to mow a lot.
Hopefully, things will recede soon enough that your coach won't suffer too much damage, and that you can get on with life.
Terry
A small side note, I lost most everything in a flood in NC, 2 little back to back storms named Dennis and Floyd. Helicopter showed the roof peak of my shop, 18'
above the ground, just about under water. Couldn't even see the house.
Its what insurance is for, but ya hate to have to use it for something like this.
Wednesday a brand new 5th Wheel was parked next to us and the owners were in and out of it bringing in their belongings. They had not even spent the night in it prior to the flood. The water had not reached the basement level on either of ours when we left (it was getting real close though). We drove back over just before dark last evening. The road into the campground was still closed and had water flowing over it. We could get to w/i 1/4 mile of the campground but our rig is towards the back so we really couldn't see anything. I talked to one of the workers and he said the water was starting to drop and had gone down about 1' so we are hoping we can get back to the rig tonight and see where we stand.
Thanks all for the kind words, it means more than you know to have someone to lean on that understands our RV lifestyle.
Phil and Rudee
I am just now getting on the forum for the first time in a couple days, and am SO sorry to hear this news. What a nightmare! Thank God you guys are ok though, and were able to get out safely. I hope that when you get back in you get some good news.
I hope you have access to your home soon, and wish you strength and positivity as you navigate the steps ahead. Thank goodness for getting out in time and for having ample insurance (and knowledge).
- Cherie
Phil & Rudee,
That's great news. Listen closely to Allie & Jim, sound like great advice from experienced RVers.
So happy for you and hope you get to workamping on time!
Sherry & Jesse
-- Edited by WestWardHo on Saturday 20th of April 2013 06:57:42 PM
We went to the campground at first light and the water had receded enough for us to walk into the sites. We had to stick to the high ground and got with in one row of our rig before we had to start wading....... brrrrr that water was cold.
I am happy to report the rig and Dakota are in good shape. The water rose to about 3" into our basement storage compartments/ Luckily we don't store anything on the floor of the compartments that will be damaged by water. The interior is absolutly dry and in good shape, thank God for that.
The Dakota is also fine. The water level came to the bottom of the bumper and the floorboards so no water inside at all. Two sites down from us they lost both their Dodge Charger and their Jeep Cherokee with water over the dash of both vehicles. We were very very fortunate.
The Harley didn't fair as well. The water was up to the bottom of the seat and covered most of the engine. The cargo trailer has about 1" of mud on the wood floor. We did a quick look, took a few photos and closed the door back up.
The first of the Insurance adjusters will be out Tuesday morning for the trailer and we are waiting on a call for the adjuster on the motorcycle.
One more night at the in-laws and we will be going back home to stay. The rest of the water should be gone by then and we are praying for sunny skies. I will post some photos of the campground that we took today on my blog in a few hours.
Thanks everyone for your thoughts, prayers and kind words. We are truly blessed and are thankful things were not worse than what they ended up being.
Phil and Rudee
Do the same with any fluids on both vehicles. Changing the fluids several times in the next couple of hundred miles is the best way to get moisture out of any systems.
Are you still headed to the work camping job at Mount Rushmore?
It's good that your damage seems to be minimal, although any damage is horrendous.
Thoughts and prayers are with the two of you.
Terry
Yes we are still planning on work camping there. We are hoping we can get everything taken care of with the adjusters, or at least get the inspections completed, before the end of next week. As soon as that is all done we will head out. The plan right now is if they determine the bike is repairable we will take it to the Harley dealer in Rapid City and just have everything repaired there. Should the bike be totaled (most likely) then we will leave the trailer here at our daughters and head out towing the Dakota. We may find another bike later this summer and if so we can always rent a U-haul to get it back to Indiana.
Either way we will be heading back out on the road soon but are not exactly sure what day.
Phil---wow thank God you and Rudee are ok. Also thank goodness that things didn't get as bad as you thought at the RV, sory about motorcycle--good insurance will help but I know you really liked the one you had. I wish you the best with everything, and be careful heading out to Mt. Rushmore. Maybe we will catch up with you out there, we are supposed to be in that area in early July.
Flyone
Please look us up when you are there. We will be working at the bookstores at Mt. Rushmore for the historical society, not sure of what kind of schedule we are looking at since the monument is open until 10pm in season but we only work a max. of 8 hrs per day and have 2 days off per week so shoot me a PM and we'll get together.
Phil
I am so sorry. Thankful you are safe and have relatives to help.Thoughts and prayers!