Blue Springs Flood Photos and Story

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westerly

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We were up at Blue Springs attempting to do a rescue class this past weekend and got caught by the flash flood. The water level in the quarry was slowly rising, so we decided to move most of the cars from our group to the registration area. Unfortunately, one of our assistants moved his car up to the edge of the hillside near the changing rooms on Central Beach. He didn't feel that his PT Cruiser had enough clearance to make it through the rising water on the gravel road. No one expected the stream next to the quarry to completely overflow its banks.

No more than five minutes after we all met up at the registration shelter, water began pouring over the road and embankment behind the building. We didn't have time to get to one of our other student's car parked in the upper lot due to the rushing water. Everyone else got back in their cars and either left through the main entrance or traveled up the hillside further on the road to North Beach. The upper lot turned into a huge waterfall and raised the quarry level another 10-15 feet within an hour.

A car driving past Blue Springs on 600 tried to drive over the submerged bridge and was pushed over the edge into the stream. The two passengers had to be rescued by local authorities on zodiac boats from the trees downstream. Their dog was never found.

We finally left a few hours later once the rain stopped and the roads through Waldron cleared enough to be passable. Sunday we returned to the quarry with the owner of the PT cruiser to retrieve the belongings still in his car. The water level had dropped a few feet, and everything was still a mess. We had to nearly rappel down the hillside Cental Beach to reach his car. I took lots of pictures Sunday and have included a few for you all.

The flood Saturday was one of the most bizarre things I had ever witnessed, and hopefully I will not have to go through that again.
 

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Hope they find the dog. Thats heartbreaking.
 
Wow! I can't even recognize the place. It's going to take a LONG time and allot of work to return to normal!
 
Wow, I have over a 100 dives at blue springs and i barely recognized the place. Thanks for the pic's
 
Wow, what a mess!!!

Sorry about the lost vehicles, and dog.
Thankfully no one else was lost or injured. Does anyone know if Blue Springs has flooded before? And will it be able to recover from it?
 
OUCH!! I was there about a month ago and it was bad enough. Docks every where but not that bad.
I was ok with the pics until I hit the cruiser. I think I would have tried to get it out or asked for Rick to get the tractor and pull it through.

Even though their gate fee is outragous I do hope that they can get things back together.
 
Wow.... all the times I've been there... I am speechless at how unrecognizable it is. Thanks for the pics and story. I guess Trucker Girl and I won't be going there Thursday.

About the dog... very sad. That just breaks my heart.
 
Wow. I too have logged many, many dives at Blue Springs and I can hardly recognize the photos. I'm speechless. It so clearly points out how horribly hard hit the area south of Indianapolis was this past weekend. Please keep everyone in the area in your thoughts and prayers.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
after 23 years of diving BS, that is the absolute worst - will take a loooong time to recover - the quarry and the property and the people that were there - had students last years whose family owns a store in Waldron, hope they are OK and had flood coverage - I was driving to Gilboa and missed all that storm - I am shocked
 
The last picture, with the fellow standing on the edge with a gravel road behind him....where is that? I can't get a reference for it in my head.
 
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