Notes From Near the Crossing

Below is a photo D. took of our house at sunset on 09/07/07 from the top of the neighbor's meadow across the road. Since then, after two frosts this week, the trees have started to change colors and the wildflowers and weeds have faded.

Here in rural southwest Wisconsin we like to celebrate every August 18th with a natural disaster. In 2005, it was a tornado. Last year it was a truck crashing into the corner bar (okay, not so natural and really only a disaster for the bar owner, the jailed drunk driver, and the regulars who had to find a new watering hole for a couple months). This year it's a flood! On Saturday night between 6 and 11 inches fell over our area. Since then we've had another couple inches, and more heavy rain is predicted for this evening. Below are some photos D. took on Sunday afternoon, and by that time, the waters had receded a few feet.

The first route he tried, Highway 56, had water running over it:

The next route he tried, County Road Y, was in worse shape:

Somehow he got to the property, and found that the road down to the river was flooded:

And here's what the crossing looked like (the normal river's edge is in the center of this photo; also notice the filled floodplain beyond):

The river receded pretty quickly on Monday, but it's back up today and covering Hwy 56 again, partly because of last night's rain, but also because two dams upstream from us have failed. Still, our predicament is nothing compared to the plight of those who live downstream in Gays Mills. There the Kickapoo River remains at record flood levels and most of the houses still contain standing water.