Storm clouds pass over the town of Raymond, northwest of Racine, late Sunday.
Posted on 06/09/2008 5:52:38 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
GAYS MILLS, WI -- Another wave of severe thunderstorms pounded the southern half of Wisconsin Sunday, creating flash floods, forcing evacuations and dredging up nightmares of flooding not even a year past.
Reports of flooding came in across a 150-mile swath of the state, from the Milwaukee suburbs of Oak Creek and Cudahy to parts of Crawford, Dane and Vernon counties.
The National Guard from Fort McCoy also was called in to help Vernon County emergency personnel evacuate about 50 people from a trailer park in Ontario that was flooded, said Jane Larsen, a spokeswoman for Wisconsin Emergency Management.
Residents in low-lying areas of Elroy and Mauston in Juneau County were told to evacuate due to high water and mud slides near the swollen Wisconsin River.
Forecasts called for more rain, and state emergency officials urged people across southwestern Wisconsin to be ready to run, too. Vernon County got 8.2 inches of rain between 9 a.m. Saturday and 4 p.m. Sunday.
The storms triggered horrible memories for people in the rural area still struggling to recover from flash-flooding last August. Those floods sent entire houses sliding into highways, washed out roads and forced many to flee in the middle of the night.
On Sunday blinding sheets of rain transformed the Kickapoo River into an angry rush of taffy-colored water and officials warned it could crest 6 feet over flood stage sometime Monday.
Gravel driveways and dirt roads became avalanches. Great muddy lakes covered farm fields. Bluffsides disintegrated, covering roads with trees, rocks and branches.
The area's small towns have become isolated islands. Roads leading into La Farge were all but blocked, Viola was unreachable and low-lying areas of Soldiers Grove and Gays Mills were underwater -- again, officials said.
"It's exhausting," said Barb Edge, 50, who lives on the edge of the Kickapoo in Soldiers Grove. She said her house suffered $9,000 worth of damage in August. "We just got the damage repaired. It's just horrible."
Monte Sheldon, 47, and his wife, Caroline, got ready to leave their house about 4 miles outside Virquoa. The rain had washed out a portion of his yard only moments before, ripping out his trees and depositing them across the highway.
They had to flee in August, too, he said.
"It's getting pretty old," he said. "It ain't normal."
In Gays Mills, a village of 625 people about 105 miles northwest of Madison, the Kickapoo covered the village park and was still rising. Residents scrambled to fill sandbags and barricade downtown businesses and basement windows; the river flooded the village's downtown last August, and no one wanted a repeat performance.
"This is like a waiting game now," said Pat Brockway, a member of the village board. "The worst is yet to come."
Small evacuations were starting in Columbia County as well, while authorities assessed flood damage in Sauk and Milwaukee counties, Wisconsin Emergency Management spokeswoman Lori Getter said. Up to another 4 inches of rain were expected through Sunday night and early Monday.
The Wisconsin State Patrol sent troopers to northeast Grant and southeast Vernon counties to survey bridges and roads for damage, and the Department of Natural Resources were closely monitoring two dams for potential problems.
In Milwaukee County, authorities opened up a disaster hot line for residents to report damages, sewer backups and flooding. A dozen two-man sewer crews were sent out to deal with manhole covers that had blown off the streets.
The suburb of Wauwatosa opened up an emergency operations center due to flooding there, while in the suburb of Cudahy officials estimated damage at $2.3 million already.
In the suburb of Oak Creek, Mayor Richard Bolender declared a state of emergency. Authorities shut down a number of the city's main roads due to rain and flooding from Saturday night's rain.
Milwaukee got 6.5 inches of rain between 9 a.m. Saturday and 4 p.m. Sunday. Brookfield got about 8 inches over that span, leaving waist-deep water in spots.
John Dlugoenski, an AccuWeather meteorologist, said the storms have stayed over Wisconsin and other parts of the Midwest because strong high pressure in the atmosphere to the east stalled a cold front.
"It's like running into a wall," he said. "When the front is not moving fast or far, storms continue to 'train' and run along the same track over and over again. That's pretty much been all weekend long."
The National Weather Service confirmed Sunday that two tornadoes touched down on Saturday. One was rated an EF1 in La Crosse County, while a second was rated EF2 in Columbia County.
The stronger tornado contained winds of up to 120 mph and moved for 18 minutes on the ground along an eight-mile path, causing minor injuries to five people.
We're OK, we're on a hill, but the fields around us have standing water in them and a road I use to get to work was closed for most of the day, yesterday. We had a total of a few hundred in sales at the Garden Center yesterday; normally, a Sunday in early June would see sales in the tens of thousands.
I'm sick of being wet. I'm sick of picking up blown over trees and plants. But mainly, I'm sick of the smell of wet dog, LOL!
Storm clouds pass over the town of Raymond, northwest of Racine, late Sunday.
Boaters paddle on a flooded street Sunday near E. Forest Hill and S. 15th avenues in Oak Creek. The boaters were later warned by Oak Creek police to stay out of the floodwaters because they could be dangerous.
Despite warnings, this motorist chooses to drive down a flooded street on the southside of Waukesha and somehow is successful.
Flooding blows off a manhole at the intersection of Fond du Lac Ave and North Sherman Blvd.
Hang in there. It WILL stop raining. Cource it’ll start snowing instead.
Two vacant buildings that once housed the Acapulco restaurant and bar at S. 6th St. and W. National Avenue collapsed this afternoon in heavy rains.
Storms, flooding cause 8 deaths, damage from Midwest to East
Associated Press
Posted: June 9, 2008
The wicked weekend storms that pounded Wisconsin flooded communities from the Midwest to the East Coast and killed at least eight people.
In Michigan, two delivery workers for The Grand Rapids Press drowned early Sunday when their car became submerged in a creek that washed out a road near Lake Michigan in Saugatuck Township, the newspaper said.
Two other people in the state were killed by falling trees, one man drowned, and a woman died when high winds blew a recreational vehicle on top of her, authorities said.
In Indiana, rescuers in boats continued to pluck people from rising waters Sunday, a day after more than 10 inches of rain deluged much of the state. At least one person died, a man who drowned in his vehicle about 50 miles south of Indianapolis, a state official said. Another person was reported missing after falling off a boat about 30 miles southwest of Indianapolis.
In Iowa, pumps and thousands of sandbags were sent to the Iowa City area, where officials fear a reservoir could top a spillway and flood the city of about 63,000 by Tuesday.
In Connecticut, lightning struck a pavilion at a state park, killing one person and injuring four.
In Nebraska, at least one tornado hit the Omaha area with little to no warning as people slept Sunday morning, damaging several dozen homes and businesses. No major injuries were reported.
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=759986
LOL! We’re stuck in the same weather pattern we were in all winter when this was 100” of SNOW, versus what FEELS like 100” of rain. :(
At least my 300’ well will be full for the next ten years! :)
Goog gravy, girl.............stay safe.
I remember when you got flooded out two, maybe three years ago?
Later on this summer you need to send tomatoes! :)
Actually, my garden plants look OK for now. They may start turning a bit yellow if we don’t have some dry weather, but what can you do? And this certainly isn’t effecting the WEEDS at all; lots of healthy thistles around. Grrrrrr!
I feel bad for Antony (I took over his job this year) who is starting his first season as a self-supporting Market Farmer. I’ll have to call him to see how he’s doing, because he’s in a low-lying area and it can’t be pretty!
I grew up in Reedsburg and my Mom’s Parents were in Wonewoc. I can just about imagine looking out my Grandparents kitchen window across the track towards the Baraboo River. That whole cow pasture must be under water about now!
Personally, I prefer it too wet over too dry. Everything’s so green and the birds are stuffing themselves with mosquitos.
That is a good point. See? There’s always a Silver Lining!
I guess my brother won’t be chopping haylage any time soon, eh?
Everything around here is yellow -— except for the weeds!!!!!
If it weren’t for weeds, I would have nothing green.
I guess Sue is right, I really should plant rice, maybe, just maybe it will quit raining and the temps will return to normal :)
EWW! Wet dog! Our kitty has the good sense (and indoor “facilities”) to stay out of the rain!
Daughter is taking care of my grandson today and tomorrow - Colubus schools closed for flooding, so she’s getting more time with him that planned. My son had a conference, and I got sick, so couldn’t take care of him.
FIL lives in between La Farge & Viola. Half of their land is underwater, but they have their home at the top of the hill, so they’re okay.
Sump pump ran most of the night. Sure is NOISY! We have an underground spring, that is only a problem in heavy rains.
I see on wkowtv.com, Sauk County officials are asking people to stay off of ALL the roads.
It’s not fun. I’m predicting lots of property damage and lots of street & drainage repairs needed in lots of our little Cow Towns.
http://radar.weather.gov/Conus/full_loop.php
We might be spared today, but if that “blob” moves a tiny hair north, we’re in for it again.
(For DU Lurkers who don’t know where the “Midwest” is, move the map to the right, LOL!)
It’s flooding from Iowa all the way to Ohio. Portions of Indiana got 12 inches of rain in four hours Saturday. Rivers there are reaching highs not seen since 1913.
Stay safe, Diana!
I feel for you. Been there, done that! We don’t have any hills here, but pretty much everybody has a boat! LOL
I’ve often wondered if the reason there weren’t big cities, etc here when the white men came is because the weather was jsut too unpredictable/unstable. Maybe we’ve just been living in a fool’s paradise and things are getting back to “normal”. The natives were certainly smart enough—maybe smarter than we are!
Diana, SJackson,
Are you two okay?
I have been seeing snippets of this storm on Fox News, but haven’t been on FR a lot lately. Then I found your pings and am getting worried.
Please keep us updated if possible, and let me know if there is anything I can do from here to help.
I am familiar with your location, gardengirl, so know you guys there get some major storms, in a low lying area.
Years ago, while living in Holden Beach, N.C., I worked for the local newspaper, and had to cover one such storm. They had astronomical tides, combined with some other natural force, and I had a two page photo spread of my pics, photos of houses washed into the beach, etc.
I spent an entire day wading through knee deep (waist high in some places) water taking photos. I lived on a canal and it overflowed, so I had to wade out to work that day.
To see something like that sure made me appreciate how powerful and deadly nature can be.
WOW, I just scanned back and saw the pics you posted.
Glad you are on a hill.
Praying for your safety, and all those folks up your way Diana.
Thanks, GA! We need prayers. We had an entire LAKE drain out today due to a crested dam. Lake Delton, up by the Wisconsin Dells. (I’ll post a story when I find a good one.)
And guess what I did today? Yep. Good old intelligent, “usually has her wits about her” Diana got into some trouble with high water and my car today. *Rolleyes*
FIL and Husband pulled me out with the truck, but man, was that ever stupid. I was tooling along, going to work, and didn’t pay attention to the high water in the road. It came up to my wheels, then the car stalled and I lost momentum. It was just still water, not rushing or anything. It was as deep as my knees when I got out and waded to the side of the road.
The car started again when it was back on dry land, but I had to do a little wet-vac work on it and Husband is running the dehumidifier in there tonight just in case.
Man, was he p*ssed at me...and with good reason. But tonight I got a hug and was told that while it was STUPID, he spent the day counting his blessings and decided that his (dopey) Wife is more important than a car. :)
Everyone at work (I was two hours late) couldn’t believe that *I* of all people would be so dumb, LOL!
Lesson learned.
Ping to Post #24 for my latest adventure... *Rolleyes*
My husband mentioned the Wisconsin Dells today while watching this on the news (he’s been there, said it is a lot like Gatlinburg and the area here), and I commented “God, I hope my friend Diana is not in that area!!!!
Am SO GLAD You are safe, and made it through that close call.
Water across a road is very dangerous, glad it wasn’t moving fast or you could have been in some extreme danger.
That husband of yours knows he has an exceptional woman, I bet he is counting his blessings tonight.
What about your property, is it in danger? Is it still raining there? I’m watching Fox for updates since I read your pings, mostly endless droning about the election, so I just switched to the Weather Channel.
Grammy, billhilly, yank and Crappie, we need your prayers for Diana and all those in the flooded areas (Indiana is also getting hit hard, and I have some friends there).
I had no idea this was happening up there. I’ve been in Media blackout since Friday.
You have our prayers and anything else you may need.
We’re OK here at home, except for the permeating smell of “Eu De Wet Dog” that’s wafting about. We’re up on a hill and while we have a little water in the basement, that’s not all that unusual for this 1906 crap-shack we call home, LOL!
There is standing water in the 700 acres of soybean around me. Aside from my little “episode” with high water today, we’ve had no problems.
(Well, it’s a little slick going into the chicken coop; chicken poop and water make a nice little slippery slurry, LOL!)
Thanks for the prayers...just direct them to Wisconsin in general. We have like 30 counties that are getting trashed right now, all along the Wisconsin River, mostly.
It is a shame about Lake Delton, and Mirror Lake is also threatened. Husband takes me to Ishnala every July for my Birthday.
http://www.ishnala.com/index.htm
Holden Beach is south of us. We’re about as flat as flat can be, and mostly at or jsut above sea level.
When we finally got our house, I made the installation guys put the outside unit for the heat pump about 5’ high. They pitched a hissy—I think it has since been made code. we’re on a hill—ha, ha—and the foundaton/floor is about 5’ also. Thought we were going under a couple of years ago during a hurricane. Wind and tide conspired against us. Water only maade it up into the bottom corner of the yard, but the marsh turned into a lake, not a piece of marsh grass to be seen. Happened just at dusk too, so we had to worry about it all night. We were very fortunate. Some of the other people in bays and creeks where the wind was on the wrong side got flooded out. Know what the insurance comapnies decided? Damage wasn’t caused by the hurricane—it was caused by “wind driven water” which is not covered under anything. I call BS.
Even if the rainfall/salt water doesn’t ruin the low units, they get filled with fireants, and then when you turn the heat pump back on... I don’t envy you wading through hurricane water. As if the snakes and fireants aren’t bad enough, you have to worry about debris and pollution as well.
Absolutely nature is powerful, and we forget in our sanitized and air conditioned/heated lives jsut how powerful.
Happens to the best of us, Diana! Just glad you’re ok. We know the spots around here that go under, but we’re tidal, and salt, and you can never be sure that the road is still there.
We don’t pay much attention to the “High water” signs. DOT doesn’t even take them down anymore. Most of them have a flip side/hinged in the middle—that says Bridge ices before road. BWAHAHA
Stay safe!
My grandma was born and raised in southern Ohio. Sometime in the early 1900’s a dam broke and a great many towns downstream got obliterated. Gma told me her folks didn’t even know where she was—not a close family. She was very young, I think pre-teen. She made it to the 3rd story attic of a neighbors house and the water came up to the floor joists.
Afterward, everyone who wanted to and had the money had the option of moving. They put all these huge multistory victorian homes on logs and dragged them one at a time to a new, higher location. The pics Gma had are great. At first, there’s only houses. A bit later, you see most of the porches added back on, sidewalks and light poles going in and up, gardens and trees and shrubs getting bigger and bigger. Momsaid she can remember playing around the old town site when she was young. They didn’t fill in the basements or cellars, jsut left them and dug new ones at the new site, pulled the houses right over the holes in the ground. Amazing.
I’ve been kind of “justifying” my stupidity of today with other times I’ve been out in the snow when I shouldn’t have been.
You know, when I was driving Army vehicles, water, mud, ice, slush, snow, etc. was NEVER a problem. I think I just need a tracked vehicle from here on out, LOL!
Army vehicles! Dang, girl! Where’s one when you need it? LOL
Just saw pictures of Lake Delton. I didn’t realize how extreme things were down there. Even worse farther south. Sorry for the flip tone yesterday.
Oh, that’s OK. We’re all joking about waiting for our FEMA credit cards so we can go buy drugs and have lap dances, LOL!
UPDATED: 1:45 pm CDT June 10, 2008
LAKE DELTON, Wis. -- Those property owners who had their homes swept away or destroyed as Lake Delton flooded its banks won't be covered by national flood insurance because the Village of Lake Delton had suspended its participation in the National Flood Insurance Program.
The director of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources' Bureau of Water Management said that the village had been a participating member in the NFIP since 1975, but failed to formally adopt a new floodplain the Federal Emergency Management Agency map in 2001. So the village had its eligibility canceled.
So far, village officials have pointed to a lack of flooding problems in the past as reasons for why the village wasn't signed up for the FEMA flood insurance program.
The program is voluntary and any community can participate and sign up at any time. If a new map comes out, local officials have to formally adopt that new map within six months. However, Lake Delton officials didn't, WISC-TV reported.
The participation issue has enormous consequences for the property owners directly impacted by the catastrophic flooding that occurred at Lake Delton on Monday.
Five homes on the lake were lost or destroyed when the lake burst an earthen embankment and sent parts of homes and assorted debris careening down the nearby Wisconsin River after a new channel was carved through County Highway A, which divides the lake from the river.
Some of the owners of the destroyed homes said that they tried earlier to get flood insurance, but didn't qualify because their village wasn't a participating member of the NFIP.
DNR floodplain management officials said that they have checked with FEMA officials and they have confirmed that the property owners who lost their homes Monday would have qualified for national flood insurance.
Stay tuned to WISC-TV and Channel 3000 for continuing coverage.
---------------
Ducks, Tommy Bartlett Show to resume
Tommy Bartlett stage show to reopen, but not ski show
Mike Ivey — 6/10/2008 2:09 pm
Despite the catastrophic draining of Lake Delton, which will likely preclude any water skiing there this summer, the Tommy Bartlett Show is planning to reopen the onshore stage and sky portions of the show on Thursday.
But the ski show portion of the Tommy Bartlett Show has been canceled indefinitely because all of Lake Delton was drained in a short two-hour period on Monday morning.
That means at least 22 water skiing employees at Tommy Bartlett will be out of work this summer. There are about 150 total employees at one of Wisconsin Dells' most famous attractions.
Workers on Tuesday were busy reinstalling a new sound system that was flooded and continuing to clean up in preparation for a stage-only show.
"The show site itself is fine," said spokeswoman Andrea Novotny. "Other than minor flooding that preceded the big draining event, the show's amphitheater was not damaged."
Novotny said show owner Tom Diehl would be meeting with workers later this week to discuss the summer plans. She said if layoffs are needed at the Tommy Bartlett complex because of the damage, Diehl would try to place any displaced workers in other positions in the Dells.
Tommy Bartlett was also forced to cancel its 55th anniversary show scheduled for next weekend. No makeup date has been set.
Otherwise, many events are continuing as scheduled. The WWII amphibious Original Wisconsin Ducks were hoping to begin tours again on Tuesday. The land-and-water tours were shut down on Monday due to high waters on the Wisconsin River and the draining of Lake Delton.
Elsewhere on Monday, crews were busy clearing the Duck trails of trees that had been felled by storms earlier during the weekend or that had been washed out by water runoff. The hope was to reopen Original Wisconsin Duck tours with a modified route on Tuesday.
Other tours -- the Lower Dells Boat Tour and Jet Boat Adventures, which both operate on the lower Wisconsin River -- were suspended Monday, but both of the tours were open Tuesday.
Upper Dells Boat Tours and Jet Boat Adventure Tours on the Upper Dells (above the main dam on the Wisconsin River, which is upstream from Lake Delton) operated with full tours on Monday and were not affected by the draining event. Upper Dells tours continued as usual on Tuesday.
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