Story originally printed in the Vernon Broadcaster or online at www.vernonbroadcaster.com
Published - Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Storms cause flooding, evacuations across Vernon County
Residents living below several Vernon County dams were asked to evacuate their homes Sunday evening after heavy rains deluged the region all weekend.
The dams that had the potential to fail were in the towns of Jefferson, Viroqua, Webster, Clinton, Franklin, Sterling and Christiana. Vernon County has more than 20 flood-control dams, many of which suffered damage in the flood of August 2007. Some of that damage has not yet been repaired due to both a lack of time and money.
VERNON COUNTY DAMS IN DANGER
Residents living below the following dams were asked to evacuate their homes Sunday night: Runge Hollow, Duck Egg (town of Jefferson); Yttri-Primmer, Seas Branch, Hidden Valley, Raaum (town of Viroqua); Jacobson (town of Webster); Ostrem (town of Clinton); Thompson (town of Franklin); Eagles Park, Sidie Hollow (town of Sterling); and the Melby and Jersey Valley dams (town of Christiana).
All Vernon County road closures can be found at www.vernoncounty.org
Gov. Jim Doyle declared a state of emergency Sunday evening for 29 counties, including La Crosse, Crawford, Monroe, Vernon and Juneau.
The village of Viola was surrounded by flood waters Sunday due to the rain, which totalled 9 inches in parts of Vernon County.
Rising water in creeks and rivers led the Vernon County Emergency Government Office to ask residents to stay off roads.
There are more than 100 roads closed in Vernon County, Monday morning, due to flooding caused by a weekend of rain.
Linda Nederlo, public information officer for the Vernon County Emergency Operations Center, said while Viola was surrounded by flood water, Richland County officials could access the village with emergency vehicles.
According to the National Weather Service, the Kickapoo River reached 19.06 feet at Viola at 5:45 p.m. Sunday, 5 feet above flood stage. It’s the second highest level in the village’s history; during the flood of 1978, the river stage in Viola reached 21 feet.
In Viola, as water filled the streets Sunday afternoon, firefighters parked a truck across Hwy. 131 just in front of Robert and Ann Bauer’s home. Though the Kickapoo River was lapping at their backyard fence, the couple had no plans to leave. During the August flooding, they had water in the basement.
“I think we should be all right,” Bauer said.
Nederlo said no injuries were reported due to flooding.
“Largely a whole different area has been hit,” Nederlo said. “Ontario, Hillsboro, La Farge, Viola n they weren’t the hardest hit in August of 2007, but they’re the hardest hit now.
“This flood is much more severe, extensive than the flood in 2007,” Nederlo continued. “The flood property damage is extensive.”
In addition to people living near the dams, evacuations were ordered in the south side of La Farge and in trailer parks in De Soto and Ontario. A shelter was set up at the La Farge High School, and power was shut off Sunday night in La Farge.
Vernon County officials called for heavy equipment and boats from the National Guard at Fort McCoy to help with the evacuation at Ontario, Nederlo said.
The Ontario Library and Ontario Baptist Church were set up as shelters for residents being displaced due to flooding in the Ontario trailer park.
Many residents reported flooded basements in Viroqua, and streets in several places were flooded. A Red Cross shelter was opened at Viroqua High School.
Travel through Chaseburg was impossible Sunday due to flooding of Coon Creek. Road washouts, mudslides and falling rocks from steep hillsides were widely reported. Nederlo said a mudslide was reported south of Genoa near the Dairyland Power Cooperative Electric Plant.
In De Soto 24 people spent part of Sunday out of their homes in the Bluffview Mobile Home Court after a nearby creek overflowed its banks.
One resident said the evacuation call went out about 6:30 a.m. when 8 inches of water flowed into the park. Residents remained out of their homes until early afternoon after the flood waters receded.
A woman who lives in the park said this was the second time since August the area was flooded.
In August 2007, Vernon County received from 6½ to 11 inches of rain in about 18 hours. This led to widespread flooding from Coon Valley and Chaseburg all the way to Viola. Gays Mills and Soldiers Grove also suffered significant flooding in those storms, which caused more than $60 million in damage locally. The storms led to Vernon County being among a group of counties declared both state and federal disaster areas.
Dorothy Jasperson, Terry Rindfleisch and Chris Hubbuch contributed to this story.
All stories copyright 2006 Vernon Broadcaster and other attributed sources.