By Steve Sharp
steves@wdtimes.com
Anyone who spent even a brief amount of time in Watertown, and particularly south-central Jefferson County, at this time of year in 2008 will never forget the experience. Rock River floodwaters raged over dams, water threatened and damaged homes, and common events such as golf outings, luncheons, vacation Bible schools, concerts and graduations were canceled, postponed or relocated.
In talking with former Watertown Mayor Ron Krueger, who had only been in office 15 months as of June 2008, a person might think this flood occurred not a decade ago but just last year. Krueger's recollections of this natural disaster remain stark and strong, and are likely indelibly etched into his memory.
This story is the first in a series of two that will examine the impacts of the record-setting high water, the ways in which local and state government officials handled the flooding, the lessons they learned and the overall effects the event had on their lives and careers.
In spring of 2008, southern Wisconsin was primed for a major flood. The ground was saturated from flooding that had occurred the previous year, combined with record-breaking snowfall during the winter. When heavy rains began June 5, there was soon widespread flooding because there was no place for the water to go. Some areas would eventually receive up to 14 inches of rain that month.
According to Lori Getter of Wisconsin Emergency Management, three people were killed and thousands of homes and businesses were damaged or destroyed as floodwaters impacted 31 counties for almost a month. It was the worst disaster since the Great Floods of 1993 that hit the Midwest. In hard-hit Jefferson, which sits at the confluence of the Rock and Crawfish rivers, it was considered a 500-year flood. River Bend RV Resort, just west of Watertown, almost washed away.
"One of the more visual events was the draining of Lake Delton on June 9," Getter said. "As the lake levels continued to rise, it caused the sandy soil along the eastern edge of the man-made lake to collapse, draining the entire lake into the Wisconsin River and destroying five homes."
Wisconsin's Emergency Operations Center was activated for nearly three weeks as heavy rains continued to move over the same stretch of southern Wisconsin, including Watertown, Dodge and Jefferson counties. The rains not only flooded homes and businesses but forced closure of numerous roads, bridges and even interstates. Within days, President George W. Bush declared a federal disaster area for 31 counties.
"Many agencies responded to the flooding," Getter said. "The Wisconsin National Guard assisted with diverting traffic from flooded interstates, delivered sandbags and water, assisted local officials with evacuations and provided aerial assessments.
At one point, the westbound lanes of Interstate 94 just west of Johnson Creek, where the Rock River bridge is located, were closed and sand-filled dump trucks were parked on the bridge to keep it from being washed away.
"I will never forget it," Krueger told the Daily Times. "It was amazingly heavy rain. I could not believe so much rain fell in such a short period of time -- north of here especially -- and that is what put so much water in the Rock and Crawfish River basins. I drove up Main Street and could not believe all the rain on the sidewalks."
Krueger's memory seemed photographic as he recalled all the different areas of the city that saw flooding and damage, the first being the Silver Creek area.
"Up until that time we had been working on retention ponds and knew we had some problem areas," Krueger said. "It was always trouble at the West Main Street viaduct near Kwik Trip and there were problems over at Watertown Metals (now Western Industries) on the loading docks on Twelfth Street and over on Wakoka Street. We were addressing these things, but it doesn't happen overnight. There is no community with a storm sewer system that could handle that much rain falling in such a short period of time and if you did build a system that good, you would bankrupt your local government."
Krueger said after the 2008 disaster, it took a few years for the city to work itself into a position where it is more comfortable with the idea it can handle another 500-year flood like the one of 2008.
"We addressed things, but I'll 'knock on wood' on that, (because) we have still not had the rain of the magnitude we did three or four times in 2008," he said.
Krueger said communications were maintained with communities to the north, such as Hustisford, that have influence on water volumes that come down the Rock River as a result of damming. He also said he was in steady contact with Jefferson and Fort Atkinson downstream on the Rock to let officials there know how things were coming along at Watertown's stressed upper and lower dams.
"We let Jefferson and Fort Atkinson know what was coming," he said. "Logs were pulled from the upper dam, a river dock broke loose from a home and it was an immense problem banging up against the Second Street bridge ... Everybody in the city was scurrying here and there, making sure everybody was safe and people were not being ignored."
Of course, sandbags were needed in many different areas of the city, Krueger recalled.
"Everybody pitched in and it was a cooperative effort between citizens and the city employees," he said, adding Carol Quest, who heads the city health department, was particularly busy, among her new tasks being the issuance of cleanup kits and making sure people were safe and healthy in filthy situations.
The floodwaters displaced thousands of people in the state, with more than 2,600 seeking emergency shelter. Getter reported volunteers provided 77,000 meals at mobile and fixed feeding sites. According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, nearly 24,000 individuals were approved for federal disaster assistance with more than $56 million in grants distributed to those impacted by the flooding through FEMA's Individual and Household Program.
"The 2008 floods were a huge test for our state to respond to a disaster of that magnitude," Wisconsin Emergency Management Administrator Brian Satula said. "In the last 10 years we have expanded our emergency plans and resources to respond to major disasters. This includes working closely with the private sector to provide goods and services to those communities impacted. We also have plans in place to quickly bring in additional support from other states under the Emergency Management Assistance Compact."
Getter said local, state and federal agencies, nonprofit organizations, businesses and citizens worked hard to try and stop the damage from the floodwaters and provide comfort and relief to those impacted.
"For many people, they would never live in their home again," she said. "More than 190 flooded homes and other structures were acquired and demolished under Wisconsin's Hazard Mitigation Grant Program. It took six years for the Wisconsin Emergency Management Hazard Mitigation program staff to close out the 2008 flood projects."
More than 850 local and state government agencies applied for assistance under FEMA's Public Assistance Program. FEMA obligated $48.5 million. While most of the repairs and financial reimbursement were made in two years, there were some larger projects that took longer. The final closeout for the 2008 flood was made in March 2017.
According to Satula, another lesson learned was the importance of patience during long-term recovery.
"Just because the floodwaters go away, doesn't mean things are back to normal for a community. Recovery can take years, as many of these communities have discovered," he said.
Krueger reflected on the lessons he and his Watertown colleagues learned from the events of 2008.
"We took the time and addressed it and we took the time to correct things over the next couple of years," the former mayor said, noting at least one retention pond was built to allow storm water to be stored and released more slowly into the city's system. Culverts were added and improved, and the loading dock at Watertown Metals has not experienced significant water problems in recent years and neither have other flood-prone locations. "Hopefully we have got things solved. It's something you are not going to forget. It does stick in my mind. It was something you never experienced before and hopefully we never have to experience again."
Krueger admitted, although things were bad in Watertown, they were worse in Jefferson, which sits at the junction of the Rock and Crawfish rivers. The rivers meet in the city's downtown area where, of course, much business and infrastructure is located.
Part two of this series in Friday's Daily Times will include interviews with Jefferson City Administrator Tim Freitag on what he experienced while helping run a town at a major intersection of two massively flooded rivers, along with Donna Haugom, who heads Jefferson County Emergency Management.