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2008 Flooding A Replay Of 1913?

Last updated on Wednesday, June 11, 2008

(UNDATED) - Indiana’s flooding is shattering state records. In columbus, Edwardsport and Newberry, the White and Wabash rivers crested a foot higher than in the great flood of 1913.

Greene County's 33-foot crest is two feet higher. Monday's rain did not push the crests higher -- precisely because the flooding is already so severe.

Hydrologist Al Shipe says with the rivers already overflowing their banks, they're now so wide that even the heavy rain wasn't enough to raise the water level.

Most of the crests have begun to recede, but Shipe says the National Weather Service is concerned about Edwardsport, where the river remains a foot-and-a-half beyond the 1913 record. Shipe says that endangers a Wellfield in Washington, Indiana.

And Shipe says the NWS is concerned the river could overtop the levee in Plainville, even though emergency management officials say they're confident it's high enough.

Nearly every state flooding record was set in the great flood of 1913, which killed 200 people. This week's floods have killed three.

Shipe notes today's authorities have far greater ability to alert people to danger.

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