Floods Day 3
Published June 12, 2008 | 
Fireman’s Park – North Freedom, WI
This morning as I sit down to write, loud thunder is rolling over the house. After 2 days of sun, the rain is back. In a way I’m a bit surprised that world news has covered this small town Wisconsin story and yet it’s not every day a lake just packs up either. Certainly in sheer dollar amounts the loss of this lake will be devastating to the businesses and their employees, however the focus on the lake is casting a bit of a shadow on the rest of the region for which lack of water would be a blessing.
Sandbagging home on Water St. (breached the following day)
Here in Baraboo the river has swollen to an almost insane height. Two days ago I watched as a large group of people worked furiously to put sandbags around a home on the riverbank. By the next day the water was up to the doors. I’m not sure what good sandbags do if they don’t keep the water back. I suppose though that creating an eddy around your flooded house must at least keep the floating logs from doing any more damage.
Fireman’s Park – North Freedom, WI
Meanwhile other small towns and villages in the area are putting up best they can considering the resources are not there as they are in larger communities. We took at drive out to one such small town called “North Freedom” which has a population of about 600 people and is home to a Railway Museum where folks can ride an antique train through a few miles of the Baraboo Hills. The road to the Museum and from the looks of it the museum itself are under water. The local town’s “Fireman’s Park” is now a lake. I walked down to the water’s edge and was amazed to see a picnic table hung up on top of a playground toy. The water stank of fuel oil.
Devil’s Lake State Park – Exit Road
My little lake is now a very big lake as well. Water has filled the picnic areas and crossed over some roads. I run the website for the park and have spent hours answering emails from concerned camper’s who wonder if it’s worth coming up at all. My answer always spins on the fact that A. The campsites are fine, and B. It’s a unique event and they might enjoy seeing it. Within the park things are wet, but have not reached disaster proportions.
Baraboo River flows through parking, bridge in background. Ochsner’s Park.
For what it’s worth I’ve been scooting around for my other blogs and posting pictures along the way. You may be interested to see them at:
Devil’s Lake Food Photo Gallery
WisDells.net Blog (some lake Delton images here)
Related Posts:
3 Responses to Floods Day 3
The part that would concern me the most is the fact that Devil’s Lake is an endorheic basin. That water has no place to go except evaporation. If the waters feeding into the lake are contaminated, the contaminants will just concentrate over time. That’s IF there’s enough surface area to evaporate the excess water.
You’re right Jim. The last big flood in 1993 raised the same concerns. Interesting too in that we’ve been in a restoration program now for almost 10 years. A “drain” was actually put in the lake to suck the sediments out which of course were very polluted. The lake seemed to be recovering quite well. I’m not sure what effect this will have in the long run. At least the lake has some protection from the rest of the watershed which is taking on a lot of pollution now with the flooding.
Now a days I have very few nightmares, but when I do have nightmares they are very often about flooded rivers and having to cross them. I have a feeling that if I were in your local, I would not be sleeping very well.