SHIOCTON, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – The weekend warm-up put the melt-down from the April blizzard into high gear.
Water levels are on the rise.
That includes parts of the Wolf River rapidly approaching flood stage and prompting changes.
“When you see that, that second pole, that second utility pole, the one in the middle, is starting to get flooded, you know that the water’s getting high,” said Kristine Brownson, Shiocton Police Chief.
Brownson tells FOX 11 flood stage in the Shiocton area is 12 feet.
She says spring time in typically means high water, but this is not a typical spring.
“With the snowfall that we received last weekend, we’re looking at maybe levels rising to 13.4 feet. Flood range is going to be 14 feet. That’s when it starts touching the bottom of the base of the bridge.”
Just downstream the Waupaca County Emergency Management Office declared a flood emergency Monday morning.
Andrew Carlin, Waupaca County Emergency Management Director, says levels in the Fremont area are expected to rise a couple more feet.
“The water at Shiocton’s raising, and it’s also coming up quickly in New London. So we’re protecting the borders from one to the other. It’s going to be coming in the next couple of days. A couple of days, it’s going to go up quite a bit.”
Included is a slow-no wake zone on the Wolf River downstream of New London.
“It’s to keep down on the damage to people’s yards, and things when the water comes up, and the waves start going into their yards, causing issues along the shoreline,” said Steven Sullivan, Waupaca County Deputy Sheriff.
Back to Shiocton, Brownson says by Friday, she expects the river to rise another couple of feet.
The Village’s action-plan is in place just in case.
“We always have sandbags that are available. The fire department will start getting some of those ready if they find that we have to start sandbagging. In my five years that I’ve been police chief, I think we’ve only had to sandbag once, maybe twice.”
A citation for violating a slow-no wake zone is about $230.
The flood emergency in Waupaca County will remain in effect until the water returns to a safe level.
