Indiana Homeland Security head says flood recovery will be long

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — The leader of Indiana’s emergency management agency said Hoosiers should help each other out and be patient as the state’s storm recovery begins.

State officials are putting the finishing touches on a formal application for a major disaster declaration following last week’s storms that led to widespread wind damage and power outages in northwest Indiana and record flooding in central Indiana. The death toll from those storms sits at seven. Some 250 buildings were damaged from flooding in Cambridge City alone. According to PowerOutage.us, more than 38,000 customers were still without power in Lake County as of Friday morning, nearly two weeks after the storms. Noblesville Mayor Chris Jensen has estimated his city alone sustained at least $10 million in damage.

In an interview with “News 8” for All INdiana Politics, Jonathan Whither, the executive director of the Indiana Department of Homeland Security, said federal disaster aid to individuals is not yet available because the state still has to submit its application to the federal government and FEMA offici...