Six bodies recovered after water sweeps cars from Indiana road

LAUREL, Ind. — The body of a 13-year-old boy was recovered Saturday in a southeastern Indiana creek, the last of six people presumed to have drowned when two vehicles were swept off a roadway after torrential rainfall deluged the region’s hill country, authorities said.

The boy’s body was found Saturday morning in Sanes Creek, where the bodies of his sisters, ages 7 and 4, and the siblings’ mother, Felina Lewis, 35, of Laurel, Ind., were recovered Friday, Franklin County Coroner Brian Baxter said. The children’s names were not expected to be released, he said.

The victims from the other vehicle were identified as Shawn Roberts, 47, and Burton Spurlock, 48. Both were Laurel residents.

Baxter said autopsies were pending on all six victims, but they are presumed to have drowned.

A van and a pickup truck carrying the victims were swept off a roadway into Sanes Creek late Thursday or early Friday after a bridge over the creek was partially washed out by floodwaters when the area received 2-3 inches of rain, officials said.

Indiana Conservation Officer Josh Thomas said the creek, a tributary of the Whitewater River, quickly surged into a torrent in the region, which has many steep ridges and valleys that are prone to flooding during heavy rainfall. It’s unclear whether the vehicles were washed into the creek at the same time or separately, he said.

“It’s terrible. It’s hard to fathom,” Thomas said.