Flooding in Wisconsin

Extreme weather has become a normal part of Wisconsin. This winter, they received near record levels of snow. Then in June, they got clobbered with record rainfall. In less than a week, nearly 15" (38.1 cm) of rain fell. In just a 15 minute period of time, about an inch (2.5 cm) fell, all of which caused extensive flooding in fields and homes. Quiet creeks and rivers suddenly swelled to dangerous levels. Lake Delton, a popular resort man-made lake near Wisconsin Dells, broke its banks and drained into the Wisconsin River, taking along with it tourism and several homes.

These pictures were taken near my parents' home in Theresa, which is in Dodge County, one of many counties in Wisconsin to be declared a federal disaster zone. Our family pond rose several feet, consuming the pier and flooding into the nearby marsh. Roads such as this one across the marsh were closed to traffic. I-94, a major interstate between Milwaukee and Madison, is still closed in one direction, with a nearly 100 mile detour. As we drove through southeastern Wisconsin yesterday, one could see still-swollen rivers, stressed dams, lakes of standing water in fields, and blackened dying grass where the waters had flooded. A brown line over knee-high marked the height of the flooded waters, now receding. Along the curbs, carpeting, water heaters, and other items in the basement or first floors were discarded, destroyed by the floodwaters. Fields bore signs of erosion and many still had water standing. Tractors stood motionless, parked in what is now mud. It is likely that much of the corn crop will be a failure. That which didn't get washed away was either submerged in water or oversaturated, causing the plants to shrivel or stunted growth lacking production of ears of corn.

Below is a movie of what was once Lake Delton, recorded by a local resident.

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