By RICK A. RICHARDS
Indiana Correspondent

LACROSSE, Ind. — It is said that the passage of time heals wounds, but not enough time has passed to heal the wound given LaPorte County farmers the last week of April, when more than three inches of rain fell.

Not only were fields turned into a muddy mess, but in some places along the Kankakee River it broke through levees, putting fields, roads and bridges underwater. The Kankakee River winds its way west from St. Joseph County and forms the dividing line between LaPorte and Starke counties, Porter and Jasper counties and Lake and Newton counties.

One farmer affected by the flooding is Carey Gorski, 56, who farms 1,200 acres in southern LaPorte County near LaCrosse. Although the water that inundated his field has begun to recede, it has put completion of his spring planting on hold until his field dries out. That, said Gorski, could take another week.
“I’m sick of rain,” he said. “There has been so much rain that it’s filled the ditches and the water has seeped into the fields.”

Gorski doesn’t know how much rain has fallen on his fields. “I got sick of counting after six inches.”

According to the weather reporting station at Pinney Purdue Ag Center near Wanatah (which collects data for the Indiana State Climate Office at Purdue), average rainfall in April is 3.5 inches. This year, 6.05 inches of rain fell at the Ag Center, but just to the east in La Porte, more than seven inches fell.
Gorski said he has experienced worse. “In 1981 or 1982, there was a major break in the levee and when the water receded, my fields were full of logs, sticks and other debris,” he said.

It isn’t that bad this year, but he said he could be forced to do some minor replanting. He said he planted on April 10 and his corn was showing when the rain began to fall. Besides corn, Gorski also raises soybeans and seed corn for Pioneer. Along with his daughter, Megan, he also raises hogs.

“If it wasn’t for the improved genetics in the corn nowadays, I’d have to do a lot more planting,” said Gorski. “They put in more of everything and the improvements mean most of the crop can be saved. It may come back stunted and be a few days behind the rest of the crop, but it will survive.”

Across Lake, Porter and LaPorte counties in northwestern Indiana, low areas in fields have been turned into ponds while some areas along the Kankakee River have been flooded. Not far from Gorski’s farm, county roads 2300 South and 2400 South in LaPorte County are closed because of standing water.
On the east side of LaPorte County near the St. Joseph County line, County Road 500 South at County Road 1000 East is under water. In places, water was thigh-deep. A breech in a levee along the Kankakee River allowed water to inundate fields and close roads, and even threaten a bridge.

Dan Ritter, agricultural agent for Pulaski County in Winamac, said flooding has been minimal, although just across the state line in Illinois where the Iroquois River joins the Kankakee, flooding has been reported.

“This isn’t the first time we’ve experienced this,” said Ritter. “We’re not at the level we were in 2003 or 2004 when the area flooded, and it’s not as bad as the 2008 flood.

“The real problem isn’t the water, but all of the debris the water brings into the fields. When the water recedes, all that debris is left in the field.”
The biggest issue for farmers, said Ritter, isn’t standing water, but saturated fields. “We’re getting to the sweet spot when farmers want to get out into the field and plant, but they can’t do that until their fields dry out,” he said. “Given how wet things are, that won’t happen for a couple of weeks, and that’s if it doesn’t rain anymore.”

Gene Matzat, the agricultural agent for LaPorte County, said some farmers he talked to before the rain were worried about getting started late with their planting. “Now they’re glad they hadn’t been in the field,” said Matzat.
“As long as farmers can get in the field in the next couple of weeks and get planting, they should be okay. But starting May 1, the yield potential of their crop decreases one bushel per acre per day if they haven’t gotten their crop in.”

The worst flooding along the Kankakee River was reported near Shelby in southern Lake County, where the river crested at 12.2 feet, more than three feet above flood stage. Although they weren’t needed, the Lake County Highway Department stockpiled 13 tons of sand, 1,000 empty sandbags and 300 filled sandbags in Shelby. At Kouts in Porter County, the river crested at 12.6 feet, above flood stage of 11 feet.

In LaPorte County at the U.S. Highway 30 bridge, the Kankakee River crested at 12.8 feet, well above flood stage of 10 feet.