I know what you mean Bill! I had just gotten my veggies in Sat. afternoon when I started hearing thunder. At least I won't have to worry about watering them for awhile. Our place sits higher than others around here, so our lawn and gardens aren't bad. The water would disappear after it stopped raining. Pretty soon though, it won't be able to go into the ground...there's so much rain. My son has a little creek just behind where he lives, and that was really bad this morning. Looks like Tuesday and Wednesday we should have some dry weather where I live. Hope you get a break too!

Kat

While driveing to town yesterday 2 geese flew overhead,then suddenly 2 deer crossed the road!
just makes you wonder .

My husband was so nice last night. We heard that hail was coming and I was complaining about my poor tomato plants. My husband said that at least I could bring in the pots of seedlings off the back porch. He helped me bring all of them inside right before the rain got really bad.

We haven't had too much a problem with the flooding, but we've been lucky. By all rights our basement should be flooded but the builders must have sealed it really well because we haven't seen anything down there. The wind though has been knocking down a bunch of my rose canes. I really hope the weather calms down soon. I can't step off my back porch right now as there is a giant puddle there.

Hey all,

We have very good drainage here, apparently. Last night was all doom and gloom with full ditches and water running where it's never run before, but morning dawned much better. As soon as the rain stopped, the culverts caught up and the water left my garden with little damage. The pump kept up, but we had a 15 minute gap when we discovered the bathroom heater is on the same breaker. It popped while my wife was in the shower. The pump caught up again quickly once I reset the breaker, but it's amazing how fast water will geyser out of a sump with the pump not running. The water in the basement didn't cause any damage.

I hope everyone else's homes and gardens are well.

Couldn't believe the news about Lake Delton no longer existing. I don't really feel badly about the uber rich people's homes being washed away (make a public beach), but I do think about the 'Ducks' and other tourist attractions dependent upon the lake.

As bad as the rains have been for us personally, the state will take a hit on tourism dollars with some of the Dell's attractions wiped out.

Don't know why I feel the need to say this, but I have no sympathy for the rich folks whose vacation homes were destroyed. In my opinion nobody should have owned a home around the lake which just kept the rest of us out. Good riddance geriatric rich person's summer/lake home! Now the land can be put to better use (I hope)

I heard that Lake Delton isn't a lake at all, it is a dammed up river. We could find examples of similar happenings all over the planet. Bury a creek or stream, or dam up river then add enough heavy rain, and the excess water will most often take back the original path.

I feel sorry for the people who owned homes there. They didn't have any flood insurance. And not only did they lose the house, but the land is gone too. Even for a rich person, that's a huge loss.

My yard seems to be draining okay, but I dug down a couple of inches to check the roots on a tree and it was still very wet. I hope the storms they are predicting for Thursday and Friday end up not being very bad.

Justaguy, they weren't all rich people. In the Journal, they interviewed a husband and wife. The husband was one of my son's math teachers in Cudahy. His wife's job was good, but they weren't rich. They saved for many years to get that home when they retired. Now, just after a few years it's gone. I do feel sorry for them. They're working people like the rest of us and I'm sure there were others who weren't rich most of their lives, but saved because they had a dream. I just hope they'll be able to restore Lake Delton as soon as possible.

Kat

Yeah, I suppose I am being too harsh. It was based off a lady I saw on the news talking about her home washing away. She said they lost not just their home (it was a lake house, not a primary residence), but their land. Then she said they built 20 feet from the water, the closest the law allowed.

That was the couple I don't have much empathy for.

I never give much thought to the marsh that abuts my neighborhood, until torrential rains like this happen.

In all weather, the soil next to the subdivision pond is as spongy as a trampoline, so I know the water level is right under the few fee of soil.
Amazingly, the pond, altho high, is draining into the marshland. I've had standing water in my back yard for a few hours, but thats it.

Perhaps that is what man-made lakes like Delton need,- a marsh to act like lungs. Most natural lakes have one.
The bigger the marsh, the healthier the lake.

When cities and towns are built around rivers and lakes, the wetlands are drained and filled and soon buildings go up. What a recipe for disaster! And who among us will give up their water view to provide a wetland marsh? Zero

Its a crazy world out there, and global warming is bringing home all our mistakes. Hey, we may all hafta build an Ark!
Pondy

People would be surprised to know what the original flood plain and wetlands were before settlement times. Many places that are now homes and farm fields were seasonal wetlands or only flooded every few years or longer. You would never know it today though, until excessive rains come. The poor people under water may have had no clue this could happen.

Up north here in the sand country, we got 3.5 inches of rain a couple days ago. That was a godsend after 3 years of drought. We don't even get puddles; it soaks right in. But my 100 hills of pototoes will get a really good start for the summer.

I had ankle deep water on the patio this morning before I retrieved the sections of eave troughs I had used earlier in spring when the sump pump was running. Now it's running nonstop because I didn't get the water off the patio soon enough and it recycled back and had to be pumped out all over again. How much you want to bet we'll be begging for some of this water come mid July and through August? Sure wish I had enough holding tanks to save it until then.

Sitting around Sunday night, chatting with a friend while hubby watched TV in the next room, my ears suddenly caught "43rd St. and 7 Mile Rd." on the news. That is my street and the cross street north of me. Seems a guy was dumb enough to drive his van into water so high that he had to be rescued by divers! Glad we are high up and have mostly raised beds.

Really, a lot of this trouble is because of climate change and strange weather, but also it is people being stupid. Those people on Lake Delton, I have little sympathy for them. Sorry they lost their possessions and things, but what were they thinking, building on a lake with no flood insurance available? When hubby and I first looked for a house 22 years ago, we went around with a realtor. Anytime the description of the property said "Lender will require flood plain insurance" we just refused to even look at the house. Why live where the house will likely flood?

We lived one street over from River Rd. for a while. No problems by us ever in 12 years there, but the houses on River Rd. repeatedly got flood damage. And they got insurance money to fix them up, some houses 3 different years of the 12 I lived there! Finally the local government said this is insane, and used emminent domain or condemning or something to buy all the houses next to the river and wouldn't let anyone live there anymore.

If you want to take the risk of building a house next to a lake when you know that no one will give you flood insurance, then, sorry to be blunt, you are stupid and taking a big risk and you know that. Bodies of water need buffer zones, how many disasters will it take for us to learn that? You can't just pave and build up to the shoreline because you want a nice view, it doesn't work in the long run.

Marcia

Yea Marcia, Right on!

Would be nice if everyone had the foresight of you and your hubby.

We lived on a lake for many years. Really close too.
However, the house was on a gravel kame situated 10 ft or more above the lake. High, dry, and without a sump pump.

You can have the best of both worlds, if you are sensible.
Pondy

Since Balsam girl mentioned flood plains, that gave me the idea to snap a few photos of a local "flooded" floodplain.
It's near the intersection of Hwy C and the East frontage road (I-94 in Racine county) for those of you who are familiar with that area. Everytime we get lots of rain, that area usually floods with a good sized "pond." But after our recent deluge, the area is spread far and wide, covering much cropland.

I had to take three pics to show the whole area.
You can click on them for a larger view.
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Here's what's interesting~
Our area of Mt. Pleasant is under a plan of development over the next 20 years (part of the I-94 Corridor project).
We have a map of the proposed plans, and it does indeed show floodplain areas. BUT, the area of this recent flood extends into a proposed residential area! The "Powers That Be" ought to re-think their plans, I'd say!

Julie

You are so right Julie. I hope you print and keep these photos, and present them at any of the board meetings that pertain to the new development plan.

I guess we in Washington Co. are lucky that so many of our supervisors were farm folks. Many wetlands large and small are preserved to the benefit of all of our lakes and streams. Right now, the airport wants to expand into wetlands and move hwy 33 way west. I will have to be among the many who always show up to protest. Yes, we all want a bigger airport. it just may have to move to a higher and drier site, thats all.
Really, it only takes a few concerned people to change things for the better.

Ugly as they may be to your eye, swamps are essential and major!

Everyone should take a drive up hwy 41. Exit on 49 and drive thru the huge Horicon marsh. It is so beautiful. Birds as far as the eye can see. Cars are parked on the roadside everywhere, and tripods and cameras prevail.
A great Sunday trip.
Pondy

Where I live in Watertown I am 5 homes up from the low area on this side of the hill. My sump has never run, but the neighbor next to me has his run when there is lots of rain and the homes at the low point have flooded basements.

The silly thing is over the hill an extension to the subdivision is being put in. It took awhile because the slope is greater on the other side and the area was a swamp. The developers dug a pond to contain the run off and are now building homes on swamp land.

You couldn't pay me to live there. Just stupid, but those who buy the homes will likely not realize what they are getting into.

Hard to believe new homes are being built on swamp land, but they are.

Pondy,
That's a great idea, printing and presenting the photos at the next development meeting!

The problem with developers, at least around here, is that they truly believe they can build up and fill in any area they please, in order to develop their residential or industrial parks. We've been told that a natural stream that runs along the edge of our property would be filled in when they expand I-94 to 8 lanes. Then, (There's some kind of law), they are required to "create" another waterway somewhere else in the county. What a joke! Man trying to manipulate nature!

I just looked up a Horicon Marsh site, and I see that they have cancelled all events (and some roads) because of flooding. I've never been there, but have heard plenty about it! Maybe by August it will be safe to visit!

Horicon Marsh

Julie

Justaguy,

I was typing while you posted (I'm slow, sometimes), but I agree with you:

Hard to believe new homes are being built on swamp land, but they are.

There is an area in Racine where a road and a few subdivisions were built over a bog! The road is slowly sinking, and all basements are flooded from our recent torrentiol rains.

Julie

Hubby took pictures of the wide spontaneous river running through our yard last Saturday. Fortunately, after the rain stopped, it went away. Hubby is on the town planning commission, and he drove around Monday to check things out. EVERY road in our township was blocked by standing water in at least one spot.

Even though there is apparently lots of open space here, people forget about things like heavy rain. Standing water and drainage problems are a BIG issue here, and there are numerous semi-permanent ponds all over that didn't use to exist when I was growing up here. Neighbors are learning to speak up before a house is about to be built in a place that normally puddles up.

Hopefully people will eventually learn that you can't live where there isn't enough water, and that you can't build where there is too much water. I also have a brother near Santa Barbara, where many homes built with lovely sea views have now crumbled into the sea along with the cliffs they were built on. And people are mad that they aren't allowed to (re)build on top of the seaside cliffs anymore. Duh.

Marcia

P.S. Julie, I think I just drove by your house Thursday night, taking the east frontage road from Hwy 11 to Hwy 20. I didn't remember your name at the time but I remembered that someone from the WI group said they lived there.

Our local paper has had flood pictures on the front page every day last week. None in West Bend, even tho the Milw
river runs all thru this town. But Allenton to the West, and Saukville to the East both had road closures.

Yesterday my daughter tried to go from Watertown to West Bend on 109 and was re-routed all over creation. Got lost, and went many miles out of her way to get home.

This Spring weather is way beyond bizarre. Can you imagine what food prices will be like in a few months?

I may have to turn my flower beds into veggie crops.
Pondy