What Caused Plum Creek To Flood Dyer?

What caused flooding near the Indiana and Illinois state line in Dyer?

Some Dyer residents whose neighborhoods flooded when Plum Creek overflowed it banks with "a wave" of water are blaming new construction in Northwest Indiana and St. Margaret Mercy Hospital, reports Mary Wilds of the Northwest Indiana Times.

Stormwater officials said the hospital did not cause the flood, but was flooded because of excess storm water in Plum Creek that came from its watershed south of Dyer.

In discussing what went wrong during the flood, residents and stormwater officials disagreed on the role the hospital played in the situation.

Residents insisted the new construction at the hospital's Dyer campus exacerbated problems in the nearby subdivisions, setting the stage for catastrophic flooding in those areas. Stormwater officials, however, said overflow from Plum Creek had flooded the hospital, not the other way around.

The flood was caused by a 10-foot surge in the creek, which came out of the Plum Creek watershed southwest of Dyer, they said.

The Rev. Greg Powers, whose parents live on Park Manor Drive, was among those who believed that building and development, particularly at the hospital, had influenced the situation. He suggested Dyer declare a building moratorium "before anything else happens" so the situation can be studied.

Plum Creek Dyer St. Margaret Mercy Hospital Northwest Indiana flood