Wisconsin Flooding Problems

[craigharmann]

Wow! Not much else to say. Wow.

[DuWayne Steurer]

I live sort of on a hill, so flooding is not a problem, however my car got hit by lightning about 2 hours ago. If I can find my digital camera I'll try and get a pic I can post.

[brewerjamie15]

Any information on how many times MMSD has had to dump into Lake Michigan or how many gallons?

[PeaveyFury]

One of the electrocuted was a small child. Just horrible.

 

The third victim was a man who jumped off the bus to try and help the mother and child.

[jaybird2001wi]

I dunno about MMSD, but my former employer, the Racine Wastewater Utility had to dump millions of gallons into Lake Michigan this week. The actual plant can hold a high amount of water, its just that the sewers can't hold that much. Which I don't find at all surprising since the City of Racine just underwent an expansion of the old plant when I worked there a few years ago.

[igor67]

Ack! I've been kind of out of some news cycles I was back in Wisconsin this weekend to enjoy the rain show and I had no idea the totals were getting that high (though having watched it rain at a steady pace for almost 24 straight hours I can believe it). Only to come back to MN and see major washouts by Winona. The you go and tell me 3 people croaked in Madison at a bus stop I've waited at before!

[NeedMoreFans]

Now a bridge collapsed too in Mazomanie. Enough already...

[brewers255]

Here are some estimated rainfall amounts from now until Friday night

Fond du Lac- 2.3 Inches
La Crosse- 2.4 Inches
Milwaukee- 1.5 Inches
Madison- 2.6 Inches


This is on top of what has already fallen and this could change with a heavier thunderstorm, plus on top of it all of Wisconsin from Green Bay south is under a slight risk of severe weather with large hail and wind damage for Thursday and Friday everyone be safe.

[DSFastball55]

wow. I feel for the people that lost homes and their stuff. Hope they had flood insurance.

 

But at the same time, they had to know that this was a possibility. Hmmmm, mudslides and flooding with homes next to a river. I never would have imagined.

A lot of the homes that were damaged or destroyed were not that close to a river. Most of the people affected did not have flood insurance because they are not located in a flood plain (at least in the Winona area). And even if they did, flood insurance only covers high water from a river or lake, it does not cover runoff from hills nor does it cover mudslides.

[splitterpfj]

I'm not in an area that will flood, but I'm getting a little bit of water in my basement tonight - the ground just can't hold anymore.

[RobertR]

Hmm, according to MMSD there's still capacity left in the deep tunnels. See http://www.mmsd.com/news/storm_update.cfm

 

The plants are pretty much at capacity though. I'm pretty curious to see what actually is going on there.

 

It probably should be noted that intensity of rainfall is one of the keys. 2 inches of rain in an hour is a lot more difficult for MMSD to handle than 2 inches of rain over 24 hours.

 

About 10 years ago our offices were flooded out. A lot of improvements have been made since then on our watershed and they look to be completely successful. I'm going to have to check on the Valley Park floodwall today. I helped design that and I'm interested in how its performing.

 

Robert

[RobertR]

I'll add that the latest information shows Jones Island running over capacity. I think that's likely the infamous "blending" going on there.

 

Robert

[Barbs4339]

Does anyone live in Kenosha near the Bristol Renaissance Faire? I was planning on going there on Saturday and since I know the park is all dirt roads, I'm just wondering if they will even be open or if it will be too muddy to enjoy the place at all.

[sgtcluels]

Alpine Valley for the RATM/QOTSA show tomorrow is going to be muddy. Even though I have seated tickets, I'm sure it's going to be muddy even there.

[Jimbo]

Does anyone live in Kenosha near the Bristol Renaissance Faire? I was planning on going there on Saturday and since I know the park is all dirt roads, I'm just wondering if they will even be open or if it will be too muddy to enjoy the place at all.

 

My co-worker went down to Bristol this past Sunday and it was closed. Half the parking area was underwater, the two ponds overflowed and part of the grounds are low-level. Can't imagine it would be any better now.

[Barbs4339]

Thanks Jimbo, that's what I figured. Sucks for Bristol since they are only open for 9 weekends per year and now 2 have been washed out.

[brewerjamie15]

According to that MMSD link above, Milwaukee has gotten about 2 inches of rain in the 24 hours prior to this post. I wonder the total for Milwaukee for this week? I can't seem to find it anywhere from a few google searches.

I did however see a few shocking numbers at how much fiscal damage has been done. Some farmers may have been wiped out entirely, business gone, homes gone, public buildings trashed. Not to mention the police and rescue monies spent so far. No clean up has started yet. This is going to be pretty bad.

I saw on the news that irony has entered the picture as well. Some poor couples house was surrounded by so much water that the Fire Department could not get to it while it was burning to the ground. They could only watch. Now -that- sucks.

[hawing]

I wonder the total for Milwaukee for this week? I can't seem to find it anywhere from a few google searches.

 

Here you go:

 

NWS Local Climate page for Milwaukee and Madison

 

This will show you the climate summary for one day at a time. Do a little number crunching between your chosen dates and you can get your rainfall total for the last week. On August 17th, Milwaukee's rainfall for the year to date was 19.22 inches; as of 4:00 PM today, it's 24.28 inches. Madison's rainfall in the same period is a bit over 9 inches.