Still treading water Water from the Tippecanoe River already surrounded a house on Horseshoe Bend Monday afternoon. It is expected the river will continue to rise to about the same level as the February 2008 flood, or approximately 25 feet above flood stage. More flood photos on page 9A. Comet photo by Debbie Lowe As the water in the Tippecanoe River rose Monday and Tuesday afternoons, residents took a page from the 2008 history book, packed up their cherished belongings and began to evacuate their homes on Tecumseh and Horseshoe bends.

"A little rain goes a long way," Carroll County Emergency Management Agency Director Dave McDowell said Monday. "Our local lakes are not large enough to use as a reservoir."

"If the local dams attempted to hold back floodwaters, they would inevitably be overtopped, which leads in short order to dam failure," McDowell explained. "Water height during a dam failure would be magnitudes greater than the floods of 2008, so the prudent course of dam operation is to maintain river flow at the rate water is entering the lakes. This is what the Federal Energy Regulatory Company (FERC) orders NIPSCO (the dam operators) to do."

The Red Cross has established a shelter at the First Assembly of God Church on US421/SR18 west of Delphi. As of Monday at 3 p.m., four families were registered to spend the night.

A press release from the Red Cross said that all American Red Cross disaster assistance is free, made possible by voluntary donations of time and money from the American people. Donations help victims of thousands of disasters across the country each year, disasters like the 2008 February Indiana floods, by making a financial gift to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund, which enables the Red Cross to provide shelter, food, counseling and other assistance to victims of disaster.

The American Red Cross honors donor intent. If donors wish to designate a donation to a specific disaster they should do so at the time of the donation. Contributors can call (800) REDCROSS or (800) 257-7575 (Spanish). Contributions to the Disaster Relief Fund can be sent to the local American Red Cross chapter or to the American Red Cross, P.O. Box 37243, Washington, DC 20013. Internet users can make a secure online contribution by visiting www.redcross.org.