Cecilia Lambert, ceannicrc@yahoo.com — Due to the recent flooding across Indiana, the pens at Coyote Rescue are a muddy mess. We are in dire need of about eight tons on gravel. Total cost of about $600.

Joe Taft of Exotic Feline Rescue reports, efrc1@verison.net — Due to surplus rain, there is a severe mud problem. Just had 10 truckloads of gravel delivered and could use about 20 more. It costs $200 per truckload. The cats are in deep mud. Exotic Feline Rescue Center needs help... Big cats have complex needs and are more difficult to care for.

A mother was driving her five children along a flooded rural road near Rochester when her SUV stalled in deep water, the Fulton County Sheriff’s Department said. The Chevy Tahoe then floated into even deeper water near the city 45 miles south of South Bend. The driver, 29-year-old Megihann K. Leininger of Fulton County, rescued three of her children, ages 3 months to 4 years. But she was unable to get to 5-year-old Shay Leininger and 2-year-old Ashley Pruitt, who died, the sheriff’s department said.

The rising waters forced hundreds to evacuate and turned dry roads into deadly flash floods in north-central Indiana. Jasper, White, Carroll and Benton counties declared states of emergency. Karen Wilson, Jasper County Emergency Management director, said up to 150 people were evacuated in Remington and up to 30 homes were affected by water that reached waist-high levels in some places. Between 50 and 60 people were taken to the First Christian Church, many from a mobile home park on the edge of the city...

In White County, rescuers in boats evacuated hundreds of people in Monticello, Blue Water Beach and Diamond Point about 80 miles northwest of Indianapolis, said county emergency management director Gordon Cochran. The weather service reported near-record flooding at Norway and Oakdale dams north of Monticello, city of 5,700 people about 25 miles north of Lafayette.

Just outside of Delphi, waters below the Oakdale dam rose above the tops of cars on both sides of the Tippecanoe River. “We rescued a couple of people off the roofs of their houses,” said Matt Tholen, a DNR conservation officer. “This was the most water I’ve seen ever.”

Flood warnings were in effect all along the Wabash and Tippecanoe rivers. The American Red Cross had set up shelters in Lafayette and Delphi, and smaller towns along the flood path also had places for residents to go... www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080109/LOCAL/301090008/-1/LOCAL17