The home of Ott Street residents Jim and Rebecca McCain, and their 9-month-old son Johnathan, sustained heavy flood damage in June 2008.
Daily Journal Archives
News from around Johnson County as reported on Sept. 12 in the pages of the Daily Journal and the Franklin Evening Star from the last 112 years.
On this day in 2008, one of the main stories on the front page of the Daily Journal was about how families were finding the bright side to the devastation of their homes in the aftermath of the June 2008 flood.
For the McCain and Cochran families who lived on Ott Street in Franklin, the June 7, 2008, flood damaged their homes and disrupted their lives.
But it also deepened their faith. And for that, both families were grateful.
Jim and Rebecca McCain lost all their possessions after nearly 2 feet of water swept into their one-story home.
Photos from two summer mission trips to Romania were trashed, and the bottom half of Rebecca McCain’s wedding dress had a brown tinge. Toys belonging to the couple’s 9-month-old son, Johnathan, were coated in silt.
But the McCains are saying something that surprised most people who heard their story: Hallelujah for the flood.
The flood was a blessing that brought them closer to members of the community and closer to God, Jim McCain said. Volunteers from their church helped them clean up and begin repairs to their home.
And their next-door neighbors, Darrell and Gloria Cochran, credit the generosity of community members for getting their flood-damaged home repaired in two days.
Less than 2 inches of water got into the first floor of the home and ruined the carpet and tile in the kitchen. Friends and family were over the next day, moving everything that could be saved to the second floor and throwing wet carpet out in the front yard.
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Other memorable Johnson County stories from this day
2014
The Franklin City Council was exploring implementing an economic development tax.
2005
About 140 Indiana businesses, including several from Johnson County, were approved for loans designed to help businesses hurt economically by the 9/11 attacks.
1995
Nearly 900 signatures opposed the Edinburgh Town Council’s attempt to lay off two police officers.
