New Carlisle man uses 8,000 pounds of sand to keep home from flooding

Frequent flooding has led a Clark County man and his father to sand-bag his house to stop water from flowing inside as heavy rains and severe weather hit the region this week.

Jason McCoy bought his New Carlisle home on Tillie Lane just south of Tecumseh High School in 2007, according to his father Chris McCoy. The land around the home flooded in 2008 — but Chris McCoy said his son’s house was spared.

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Then about four months ago, his son’s house flooded. A contractor had to gut the house and the remodel was just completed in March.

After the reconstruction, Chris McCoy’s son started to sandbag his home whenever heavy rains hit but water still got inside his register vents during Tuesday’s storms.

“We probably put three to four tons of sand bags and sandbagged the house,” Chris McCoy said.

A creek is about 50 yards behind his son’s property. The creek might need to be cleaned out, Chris McCoy said, and the levee needs to be rebuilt to solve the flooding issue.

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“Whoever the creek belongs to — it should be fixed,” Chris McCoy said. “I don’t care if the government has to come in and do it, or the township has to come in and do it. These people cannot keep living this way.”

Jackson Creek is located on private property so the township can’t use any source of public money to make repairs, Bethel Twp. Trustee Nancy Brown said. The township has confirmed there’s a breach in the levee.

“We have poured our heart and soul into finding a solution,” Brown said. “If there was a solution, it would’ve been done.”

Flooding on Tillie Lane has been a problem for 36 years, she said, and currently affects about 10 houses.

The Clark County Emergency Management Agency is applying for a feasibility grant that would bring an engineer out to see if a solution exists, Brown said.

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Paul Shakro lives close by on Bischoff Road. He hasn’t experienced any flooding problems like McCoy’s, but he said he has sympathy for those who have had to endure it.

“I feel sorry for these people,” Shakro said. “I do not know how many times they have had to gut their house because of the flooding down here.”

Brown also wishes the township could do more for the residents.

“We have great compassion for the people out there,” she said. “We wish we had a magic wand to find a solution but we don’t.”

Chris McCoy’s son has flood insurance and only minimal amount of water got in the home Tuesday, thanks to all the sand bags.

“Within the last month, it got finished — and now we’re looking at this again,” Chris McCoy said.

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