Accessibility links Skip to main content Keyboard shortcuts for audio player Open Navigation Menu --> Newsletters NPR Shop Get NPR+ Close Navigation Menu Home News Expand/collapse submenu for News National World Politics Business Health Science Climate Race Culture Expand/collapse submenu for Culture Books Movies Television Pop Culture Food Art & Design Performing Arts Life Kit Gaming Music Expand/collapse submenu for Music Tiny Desk New Music Friday All Songs Considered Music Features Live Sessions Podcasts & Shows Expand/collapse submenu for Podcasts & Shows Daily Morning Edition Weekend Edition Saturday Weekend Edition Sunday All Things Considered Up First Here & Now NPR Politics Podcast Featured Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me! Fresh Air Wild Card with Rachel Martin It's Been a Minute Embedded Get NPR+ More Podcasts & Shows Search Newsletters NPR Shop Get NPR+ Tiny Desk New Music Friday All Songs Considered Music Features Live Sessions About NPR Diversity Support Careers Press Ethics At least 5 dead as historic flooding sweeps across Indiana At least five people have died as a result of severe storms and flooding across Indiana, authorities say. National At least 5 dead as historic flooding sweeps across Indiana August 17, 20264:50 AM ET Heard on Morning Edition By Samantha Horton At least 5 dead as historic flooding sweeps across Indiana Listen · 2:15 2:15 Transcript Toggle more options Download Embed Embed "> <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/nx-s1-5934649/nx-s1-9889526" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> Transcript At least five people have died as a result of severe storms and flooding across Indiana, authorities say. Sponsor Message Transcript
MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Illinois, Ohio and Indiana have been hit hard the past few days by heavy rain and extreme weather. Indiana officials said there are at least seven storm-related deaths. Samantha Horton reports from Indianapolis, which experienced historic flooding through the weekend.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Whoa. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
SAMANTHA HORTON, BYLINE: A crew pulls back the heavy metal flood gates in the Broad Ripple neighborhood after days of rising water and flooding along the White River in Indianapolis. This is where movable gates were installed in 2009 as a way to protect nearby homes and businesses from extreme flooding. The gates were activated for the first time Friday night.
(SOUNDBITE OF WATER SLOSHING)
HORTON: The river crested Saturday at over 20 feet in Indianapolis, just shy of the record set in 1913. Hundreds of residents had to quickly evacuate their homes.
(SOUNDBITE OF WATER SPLASHING)
HORTON: Trudging through water up to his knees, Jacob Maynard (ph) and his girlfriend carried their dogs out of their home.
JACOB MAYNARD: It's kind of scary how fast everything flooded. Like, that's the main thing.
HORTON: In other areas of the Indianapolis metro area, neighbors came together to fight back the floodwaters.
(SOUNDBITE OF SANDBAGS THUDDING)
HORTON: In the town of Rocky Ripple, volunteers filled sandbags to line the levee at its weak points and offer bags to neighbors to protect their homes. More than 300 homes in the area were advised to evacuate. Across the state, more than 140,000 homes were without power as of Sunday evening. Rocky Ripple council member Randy Sanders says he was inspired by the response to help the community.
RANDY SANDERS: I've seen people tonight that haven't talked to each other for 10-plus years actually working together, talking. And it's just amazing that everybody is like, what can I do to help?
HORTON: Local officials say the community sandbag effort since Friday helped prevent wide-scale flooding. A 2020 report from Indiana University climate scientists stated that the state needs to prepare for what they cite as increasing environmental change. President Trump over the weekend approved an emergency declaration for Indiana.
For NPR News, I'm Samantha Horton in Indianapolis.
(SOUNDBITE OF LOWERCASE NOISES' "ROARING FORTIES") Copyright © 2026 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. Accuracy and availability of NPR transcripts may vary. Transcript text may be revised to correct errors or match updates to audio. Audio on npr.org may be edited after its original broadcast or publication. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record. Facebook Flipboard Email Read & Listen Home News Culture Music Podcasts & Shows Connect Newsletters Facebook Instagram Press Public Editor Corrections Transcripts Contact & Help About NPR Overview Diversity NPR Network Accessibility Ethics Finances Get Involved Support Public Radio Sponsor NPR NPR Careers NPR Shop NPR Extra Terms of Use Privacy Your Privacy Choices Text Only Sponsor Message Sponsor Message Become an NPR sponsor (function () { var loadPageJs = function () { (window.webpackJsonp=window.webpackJsonp||[]).push([[22],{310:function(e,n,o){o.p=NPR.serverVars.webpackPublicPath,Promise.all([o.e(1),o.e(2),o.e(3),o.e(4),o.e(80)]).then((e=>{o(15),o(769),o(155),o(176),o(93),o(447),o(254),o(128),o(130),o(754),o(175),o(755),o(255),o(78),o(773)}).bind(null,o)).catch(o.oe)},782:function(e,n,o){e.exports=o(310)}},[[782,0]]]); }; if (document.readyState === 'complete') { loadPageJs(); } else { window.addEventListener('load', function load() { window.removeEventListener('load', load, false); loadPageJs(); }); } })();