Sep 18, 2008 10:39 pm US/Central
Angry Munster Flood Victims Call Town Incompetent
Residents Say No Real Help Or Prevention Efforts Were Made
MUNSTER, Ind. (CBS) ―
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Many Munster, Ind., flood evacuees returned to their homes to find sites like this, a fetid, muck-covered basement.
CBS
People are going back to their homes in Munster, Indiana – which was hard hit by flooding. CBS 2's Dana Kozlov reports that most people are going into their homes only to take stuff out. And many people here still wonder if at least some of this could have been avoided.
Gallon by gallon, Mark Steinken is just beginning to drain his basement. Right now, everything he has down there is floating in brown, murky water - and none of it can be saved.
"It just comes to a point where you're numb. You come to the realization of what you've lost and there's no sense – getting worse about it. You gotta do what you can to get rid of it and just go on," said Mark Steinken, flood victim.
Steinken lives a block away from a mandatory evacuation zone in Munster - just down the street from the house that blew up Wednesday night in a gas explosion. Thursday night, power crews were in the neighborhood diverting gas from flooded homes.
But Shirley Simmons, who fears her house may soon be condemned, says it's another example of too little, too late from Munster's leaders.
"Like I told one of the town officials today, 'if you only had tried, then we would have all felt better," said Shirley Simmons, flood victim.
There is a lot of anger here - and questions. Why didn't Munster sandbag sooner? Why didn't officials shore up the river's edge? Why wasn't all the gas and power to flooded homes shut off sooner?
Residents are lashing out at Munster's town government.
"They were not prepared for it. They knew they had three days in advance. The most they could say was they'd help you move out of your house," said flood victim Jack Loudermilk.
"Sometimes I even spoke to some of the town board people, and I've even heard back from other people how the town board, members on the board treated people… saying you moved down there, you decided to live down there so that's the consequences," said David Robertson.
"They said no, don't worry, the water's not rising and, as you can see, it rose," said flood victim Chris Chipules.
"The town has done nothing that I, or anybody else, is aware of. Absolutely nothing," said flood victim Pat Fogarty.
One thing Munster did do today was bring dumpsters to some flooded blocks - making it easier for tired, overwhelmed residents to throw out all they've lost.
"It wasn't here when I left this morning and look at it. That's probably not even the tip of the iceberg to what has to be put in there," said Joe Munda, flood victim.
CBS 2's Mike Parker took those complaints Thursday to Munster's town manager.
Asked if those unhappy flood victims are barking up the wrong tree, Tom Di Giulio said, "They're barking up any tree they can find because they've got a catastrophe that's hit."
Di Giulio said they started sandbagging the rising river Friday night. That, he said, was the first priority, and that neighborhoods had to come later.
"I understand people getting mad. They gotta blame somebody," he said.
Asked how he would grade the city's response, Loudermilk said he'd give it a D.
Another resident said, "I'm angry, so I'm probably going to go with a C- or a D and that's based on a lot of anger right now."
But Di Giulio said, "I would give my community and its people a good grade." He said, overall, Munster reacted as best as it could.
CBS 2's Mike Parker and Dana Kozlov contributed to this report.
(CBS 2 and the Post-Tribune are news partners covering stories in the communities of northwest Indiana. Send story tips to tips@cbs2chicago.com. (© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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