Rescue teams recovered the body of a man Sunday who drowned after being sucked into a drainage pipe at a Mooresville pond the day before.
Bradley Justus, 59, of Mooresville, had been clearing debris from a culvert at 8:30 a.m. Saturday when pressure from floodwaters carried him into the pipe near 11200 Lambert Court, Indiana Department of Natural Resources Lt. Angela Goldman said.
Fire crews from Moorseville, Brown Township and Hendricks County attempted to pull the man from the culvert Saturday morning but abandoned the effort because of the danger of the rising waters, Goldman said.
The culvert, in a sparse cluster of single-family homes, is only a few feet in diameter and leads to a nearby ditch about 80 feet away, Moorseville Fire Chief Matt Dalton and Goldman said.
The city of Shelbyville declared a state of emergency because of river flooding
Rescuers returned to the pond at 9 a.m. Sunday and cut an opening in the culvert pipe from the ground above to pull Justus’ body out at about 11 a.m.
Goldman said the death was unusual and comes as widespread flood warnings remain in effect across Central Indiana.
“I have never seen a situation like this, nor has anyone else here,” said Goldman, a 27-year veteran.
Officials said Justus was a resident in the housing development but not a maintenance worker.
National Weather Service Meteorologist Earl Breon said some of the most dire flooding conditions are south of Marion County, especially Shelbyville, where river flooding “is forecasted to go above record flood stage.”
“But almost all river points are expected to have major to moderate flooding,” Breon said.
Indianapolis has received 5.12 inches of rain since Wednesday and 6.27 inches has fallen in Shelbyville, NWS reported. The most rain has deluged Martinsville, which has recorded 7.27 inches across the four-day span.
The city of Shelbyville declared a state of emergency due to flooding in the Big Blue and Little Blue rivers and is urging people living in those floodplains to evacuate.
The floodwaters have uprooted trees and inundated low-lying communities. An emergency shelter has been set-up at the Shelby County Fairgrounds, city officials said in a news release.
The Little Blue River has crested and is receding but the Big Blue will not crest until Monday., the city reported.
Call IndyStar reporter John Tuohy at 317-444-6418. Email at john.tuohy@indystar.com and follow on X/Twitter and Facebook.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: 59-year-old Mooresville man drowns after being sucked into culvert
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