LACROSSE, Ind. – Five years ago, there was farmland near some Indiana rivers under 10 feet of water from record flooding caused by torrential rains and a heavy snow melt.

There’s nowhere near that much water now despite recent heavy precipitation.

The primary reasons cited include a mild winter and improvements to alleviate flooding along those rivers in the northern part of the state.

Farmer Matt Shafer, of LaCrosse, said drainage ditches were filling up but there was just standing water on farmland in spots. He said lack of frost has allowed the ground to absorb some of the water.

Shafer also credited very little snowfall and improvements to help keep the Kankakee and Yellow rivers within their banks.  

“We were a little more able to process this if you will,” Shafer said.

It was this time of year in 2018 when farmland near both rivers turned into lakes from heavy snow on the ground that quickly melted during heavy rains with heavy frost in the ground.

According to the U.S. Geological Survey, this year the Kankakee River at Shelby in Lake County had been rising but recent levels were just slightly above minor flood stage and two feet below major flood stage. In comparison, the Yellow River had also been rising but receding in spots.

Recent levels on the Yellow River at Plymouth were about three feet below minor flood stage and five feet below major flood stage, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

Shafer reported similar results in his neck of the woods near the Kankakee River, saying there was more storm run-off in ditches and fields after the last heavy storm in early March but very little flooding.

Currently, Shafer said the standing water is not a problem for farmers except for a handful of producers who started applying fertilizer and weed control chemicals to their soil in advance of spring planting.

Shafer said he typically doesn’t start planting his corn and soybeans until about the middle of April.

For now, his only concern is having to push back spring planting if the heavy precipitation with the ground now saturated continues over the next several weeks.

“We’re good on moisture for right now. We don’t need any more for the moment,” he said.

A number of steps costing about $2 million in response to the record flooding have been taken to help keep the Kankakee and Yellow rivers from spilling over their banks as quickly.

Scott Pelath, executive director of the Kankakee River Basin and Yellow River Basin Development Commission, said log jams in place for years and new ones are cleared.

He said trees about to fall into the rivers are taken out before they drop into the water and create a log jam.

Any debris caught on the structures of bridges spanning the rivers are removed so blockages don’t become larger from snagging other materials floating by in the water.

Pelath also said not only are reports of blockages from citizens responded to more often in advance but the rivers are actively monitored year round to spot and remove any impediments to flows.

Other recent flood control measures include development of a 400-acre flood water storage area described as sort of a wetland in Newton County.

Recently, some of the water from the Kankakee River spilled into the holding area, once reaching minor flood stage.

“That’s something you can do to maybe take a couple of inches off the flood height,” he said.

He said the rivers being low entering the spring thaw season also provided additional help to keep the water, so far, mostly within the banks.

Pelath would not estimate how much higher the rivers would be without the flood control steps already taken but felt there’s been a positive impact.

Long term, Pelath said other flood control measures include rebuilding of banks to reduce sediment build-up in the rivers from erosion.

“You can’t prevent a flood. If Mother Nature is going to bring you a lot of precipitation that’s what Mother Nature is going to do, but you can do things and take steps that would make a flood much less worse than it otherwise would have been,” he said.