ELKHART, Ind.-- Residents in Baugo Township are digging trenches to help protect their homes from flooding.



Anita Hoffman said, “For us this is the worst that we’ve ever seen! Downstream there are houses that will be half covered with water.”



Hoffman's family has lived on Baugo Creek for six decades.



“Where you can see the apple tree there is usually five or six feet of water that will come up there, and it will happen perhaps overnight,” Hoffman said.



Hoffman and Gary Buss helped fill 150 sand bags for their friends Thursday evening.



Buss said, “By the time you see the creek coming up it’s going to be too late. You have to get the sand bags in place as early as you can.”



Michelle Matsey said, “I hope it doesn’t come to this, I hope we are being just extra prepared. I’m a little worried because there’s a lot of snow on the ground and a lot of rain on the way.”

Hoffman and Buss say it is important to put the sand bags on dirt, not snow.



They said to dig a trench in the highest point in the yard.



And make sure the bags are stacked tightly together.



They said with these tips you will have the perfect retaining wall.