What did the 2008 flood teach about river water in Hammond?
The 2008 flood showed that river water reaches more than the basement, that silt is the hardest part of the clean-up, and that the neighbors on the river side are affected together. Those lessons still shape how the work is run.
The Little Calumet overflowed in September 2008 after a levee failed, and the water spread through Hammond and the Munster area. Hotels near the river in Hammond were evacuated, and the Hammond fire chief reported homes lost on the Munster side. The flood reached basements across Lake and Porter counties, and the Army Corps reports that two people died.
The reporting from that time, including a regional public radio report, describes basements and streets under water across Lake and Porter counties. It does not give a house-by-house account, so this page does not put a count on how many houses were affected. What a response plans for is the same in every case: the high-water line, the silt, and the materials that have to be read before they can be kept.
What has changed since the levee and floodwall work?
The Army Corps concluded its Little Calumet River Basin levee and floodwall work in July 2024. The walls reduce the river risk, but they do not stop the rain that falls on a lot, and a house behind a wall can still take water.
The 22 miles of levees and floodwalls were built to hold the river back, and the February 2018 storm was the first big test of the walls built after 2008. The sources used for this page do not say how that storm affected individual basements, so none is described here. What it does show is that rain is a separate risk from the river, and a house behind a wall can still need its own drainage checked.
A house in Hammond or Munster should not be assumed safe because it is behind a wall. The response plan works on the water that reached the building, whatever its source, and the drying covers every floor it touched.
Why does the response run on readings and not on the flood level?
The flood level tells you how high the water reached, but not how far it travelled into the materials. The readings show that, and they decide when the drying can stop.
The water line on a wall is the highest point the water reached, and it is an important record. But the wet materials below and behind that line hold moisture, and they keep it after the water is gone. A flood that reached three feet can leave wet material up to the wall plate on the upper floor, and only the readings show where that is.
The readings are repeated until each material reaches its goal. The record shows the readings at each check, so the owner and the insurer can see that the drying was finished, not stopped early.
What should a household do during a river flood warning?
Move valuables and papers up, shut off the power to the basement if the water is rising, and keep the furnace and the water heater off if they are in the water's path. Do not walk into floodwater.
Floodwater hides hazards: open manholes, downed wires, sharp debris and the depth of the water itself. Floodwater should be kept out of, and the response starts only when the water is safe to enter. A household that has moved its contents up in advance has a much smaller clean-up, and the record of the move is useful for the insurer.
After the water has gone down, the first call should be made once the building is safe to enter. Photographs of the high-water line and the damage come before anything is moved, and the owner should keep the record for every stage of the work.
