OCONTO, WI (WTAQ) – The Oconto community continues to recover from recent flooding caused by a combination of warmer weather and ice jams pushing the Oconto River over its banks.
Homes were flooded and heavy equipment was called in to break up the ice. Oconto residents are cleaning up, but not everything is completely back to normal.
“At this point, while there’s still a lot of damage from the flooding in some properties, the water has pretty much receded although still at a high level,” says City Administrator Sara Perrizo, “One home had major flooding, lost most of what they had. There are about 10-12 others that had minor flooding and lost furnaces, hot water heaters, and things like that in their basements.”
Those high levels could cause problems when temperatures rise once again. That’s why everyone in town is keeping a close eye on the banks of the river and the weather forecast.
“We’re certainly concerned that it may happen again, especially with the weather getting cold and then warming up and things melting – that does tend to cause ice jams,” Perrizo tells WTAQ News, “We broke up the ice, we’re keeping an eye on it. Certainly, if preemptive measures come up that we need to use to break up the ice, we’ll do that.”
The city brought in a barge with a crane to clear out ice jams and allow the river to flow properly earlier this month. It’s not a permanent solution, but enlisting help from large equipment is part of the plan for the time being.
“Unfortunately, the barge had to go back to Door County. But we are prepared to try to get it back over here if that’s a need that comes up in the spring,” Perrizo says, “We still have some equipment still available, it’s still sitting in the city from a company call MJB in Marinette. They’ve agreed to leave it here if we need to use it for ice-breaking.”
Another piece of the puzzle Oconto is working to address is the flow of the river and how normal levels can be maintained.
“We’re working with the operators and managers of the dam in Oconto Falls to see if there’s anything that can be done from that perspective, because that water then flows down to us,” Perrizo says.
While there are no major temperature spikes expected in the near future, there is still concern over what kind of flooding issues may arise after a hard freeze and shift into the spring season.
