September 30, 2010

Seems like my new “unlucky” number is 24. June, July and September have caused me much unwelcomed devastation…all on the 24^th day.

And now for the “cliff notes” recap:

June 24 / Primary residence: Sewer back up into the basement 18”-24” of crap filled water. I lost all possessions such as clothes, decorations, photos, scrapbooks, furniture and the carpeting. Not to mention that with all the bleach that was used, and the not feeling so good from all the bleach that was used, it smelled like a zoo – for quite a while!

July 24 / Primary residence: Rain would not stop until the water in the basement measured 24”-36”. This flood took pretty much the rest of everything I owned that was in the basement…antique chest, sewing machine cabinet, washing machine, freezer, refrigerator, space heater, damage to the hot water tank, clothes dryer and oh, yeaaaah, furnace! FEMA did step in for this flood – into my town since it was declared a federal disaster into my basement to assess the damages…thanks FEMA for the $289 to repair my furnace that cost $1500.

September 24 / O’Wich: No rain anywhere near O’Wich or much in the state of Wisconsin, however Minnesota and the Dakotas were hit and “the water just needed some place to go.” So into the Mississippi River their 12” in 2 hours flowed and then to alleviate the gorging of that river the Wisconsin River took some and the dam then opened their gates and dropped 48” of water onto my property! Of course there was more involved with the actual process, but I did mention earlier that this was just the “cliff notes” recap – for now, anyway! Obviously as in any situation, it could have been worse. Had the holding tank been installed, the force of the flooding would have caused it to upheaval itself from the ground. It would have “popped like a cork.”

Our neighbor visited our property by truck and then by boat to take photos of our damages. He was there when the flood first began on September 24 (remember this date from the beginning of the blog?) He then visited on the 25^th, the 26^th and again on the 27^th. Here are some of the photos that he was able to capture.

September 24: The water started accumulating.

September 25: The flood continues

September 26: 48" of ground water

The back: The light colored mound sticking up is the seat of the tractor. I wonder if this turkey made it safely off the roof to dry ground. Doesn't look promising for him. The water even made it to Hwy O. That's over 1 mile from the river.

*****

A little history lesson on the city of Portage and floods:

Portage is the largest city in Columbia County and although you cannot rely on the census, there are supposedly around 10,000 residents. Portage was named for the Fox-Wisconsin Waterway, a portage between the two rivers which was recognized by Jacques Marquette and Louis Joliet during their discovery of a route to the Mississippi River in 1673.

The Native American tribes that once lived in Portage, and later the European traders and settlers, took advantage of the lowlands between the Fox and Wisconsin Rivers as a natural "portage". The French fur traders described the place as "le portage", which eventually lent itself to the name of the community. As a portage, this community developed as a center of commerce and trade; later, a canal was constructed to facilitate this trade. When the railroads came through, the community continued in this role. The city’s slogan is “Where the North Begins”. Well enough about all of this crap, let’s talk water. The Wisconsin River is 430 miles long and runs through the center of Wisconsin. On September 14, 1938 – well before my time – the Wisconsin River hit 20.5 feet. The flood stage is 17 feet. Other recorded floods were 19 feet on April 18, 1965, 20.2 feet on March 17, 1973 and 19.6 feet on June 13, 1993. It was somewhere between the two last floods that the then owners of O’Wich, hoisted the cabin onto a stack of cinder blocks to keep it from any future floods. There was another flood sometime in 1996 but that wasn’t anything in comparison to the breach of Lake Delton on June 9, 2008 when the water levels hit well over the stage of 17 feet. 2010 made for several record breaking floods.

April 18, 1965

June 9, 2008

The year 2010 has seen five floods although none of them out of the ordinary until September 24^th when the new record height hit 20.59 feet. There will not be a test, but did I mention the flood stage is 17 feet??? To quote the French-Canadians; “I’annee des grandes eaux” – translated to “the year of the great waters” – I think it’s quite appropriate!

*****

Our shared day off came on Thursday September 30^th. In order to file a claim, call the gas company, or just for peace of mind, we needed to get up to O’Wich and see this for ourselves; although the unknowing was and had been eating at us for days.

We were on our way by 7:15 and tried to find some humor in what was waiting for us. We followed “Greif” and made our own “grief” comments as we finally passed it, knowing once we got to O’Wich, we’d most likely want to “Run”. Along the way, we noticed that the barn we’ve been watching was still standing and we were wondering if we would be as lucky! We crossed over the river and it looked high, but we've seen it high before!

We finally got there around 11:00 and were surprised that Hwy O was not closed as was previously mentioned to me via the Sheriff’s Department…what do those dispatchers know??? And their threats of actions to be taken should I trespass…humpf! We made it to the higher area, where everyone parks their vehicles and remained surprised. Then, we saw the water just past the pines. Carlo decided to drive through the water and even though I was beyond nervous, he got us to our water-filled driveway without incident!

After seeing the beautiful sky and fluffy clouds along the way, it was a very eerie feeling once at O’Wich. It was quiet and dreary and the only noises were the splashing of the jumping fish in the front lawn and the falling of the pine cones from the soft and gentle breezes though the trees. Once out of the truck, the water was a good 2 feet deep and the air was full of smells of river water. Yucky! Everything was covered in sandy mud and moss. It was sooooo slimy. Almost all of our lawn decorations were gone. The ramp for the crawl space was hung up on our once green colored hose – now brown with river muck. Picture a ghost town…dry, hot, full of tumbleweed. Now think opposite…wet, cool, full of water – welcome to O’Wich! We checked under the cabin; not good. Most of the insulation came off of the walls; the pump had obvious signs of being under water - based on the mossy water marks. The hot water tank was halfway submerged and the bottom of the furnace was still dripping water. A quick look to the right found the propane tank on its side, lines broken, and no fuel - but luckily still tethered! Around the back the swing moved across the property, the shed has mossy water marks up the walls and the tractor was underwater – maybe not the steering wheel, but the rest of it.

Our flower box is gone – again. Lost it in 2008 only to find it a few properties over! All of our newly cut firewood is along the “other” side of the property and we don’t even have a clue how we are going to move it. Carlo opened the shed and it was a huge, gigantic mess. He lost a lot of tools and there was gas and oil floating all over the place. It could have been worse – “it could have popped like a cork”.

The fire pit was like an island and the water seemed to be at one continual level – all the way down to the river. A person not knowing the property would not even know where the edge of the property is…heck, we’re not even sure anymore! But, we did see the benches – not sure what condition they’re in, but they look like they were spun around a bit!

We walked down the road and were surprised to see many of our belongings floating in the water in the woods. Not sure if we’ll ever get those items back or not. We were very happy that when the road was put down that we chose to make it as thick as we did! We couldn’t get past our neighbors place because the water just got deeper, so we headed back to our place. The water level had gotten up to the artwork on the porch and the mossy mark measured 48” – this is just unbelievable! On the porch was a mouse – no he is not napping. He starved or drowned: either one. There was a lot of screaming involved, even with knowing he was dead! Carlo also found one under the house and one in the shed. Same amount of screaming and of course, those we dead too!

We spent several hours cleaning out the shed and the crawl space hoping to get rid of anything that could not be saved and of course anything that was drenched that might cause mold – we are pros with this flooding stuff! Third time is the charm! Don’t be jealous, we’re just lucky like this!!!

We found a hole in the lattice and from the water lines it appears that it was a log that might have rammed against it since the current was so fast. If not that, then it was a critter trying to get it or out. I'm hoping it was a log! There wasn’t much more we could do because of the amount of water on the ground, even though it did go down about 6” while we were there. The real clean up will need to wait for a drier day when we can wash and sanitize everything, a project that will be as terrible as the flood itself. We locked up the cabin and headed out to visit with Paul and Betty who were staying at the Super 8 (thanks to the Red Cross) – I cannot even imagine what condition their mobile home is in. We stopped by Steve and got the pictures he took for us and then we had dinner with him before we got on the road to come home. It was one crazy day. We were home by 10:00 – sore and utterly exhausted. But it could have been worse…!