Storm & Flood Damage Recovery in Columbus, IN

Because the two are different things. A levee is built to keep the channel out; the water reaching your floor came up from beneath it. Prolonged high stages raise the water table across the whole bottomland, and it enters through the slab and the floor joint. Nothing overtopped and nothing failed. It is why a sump and an interior drain remain worth having on protected ground, and why owners are so often surprised by it.

Yes, and it is more informative than a single downstream number. Each drains a different basin, so a storm centered over one can raise it while the other stays low, and the worst case is when both peak together. Following both gauge forecasts gives a clearer picture of what is coming, and the difference between coincident and staggered peaks often decides whether the bottomland floods at all.

Make sure it can keep running, because that is the period when it matters most and when power is least reliable. A backup on independent power is the main thing. It is also worth knowing that a sump discharging into ground that is already saturated will achieve less than usual, so managing expectations about how dry the basement can be kept during a prolonged high stage is part of planning for it.