From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
Water-covered streets, detours, sandbags surrounding houses and empty freeway lanes on the vital I-94 route through southern Wisconsin might be part of the landscape for weeks, not just days.
Steve Olson, a spokesman for Wisconsin Emergency Management, said the reopening of westbound I-94 from Delafield to Lake Mills was not imminent, and a Jefferson County official put the time frame at weeks.
Over that time, the cost of the damage from this month’s unprecedented rains in southern Wisconsin will continue to accumulate, beyond the more than $170 million reported from a few areas Monday.
That tally included Waukesha County, $84.5 million; Milwaukee County, $43 million; Winnebago County, $29 million; Vernon County, $10 million; and Columbia County, $6 million. Twenty-five other counties were included in Gov. Jim Doyle’s state of emergency last week and will be assessed for federal disaster declarations and eligibility for federal assistance.
To say that I-94 being closed is a headache is putting it mildly. Being detoured all the way to Beloit to get from Milwaukee to Madison is a nightmare.
TMJ4 is reporting that an emergency plan to deal with the mess will be implemented soon. Eastbound and westbound traffic will share the open lanes of I-94, possibly by later this week. That will slow things down going eastbound, but it will be a dramatic improvement for those traveling west.
A traffic mess, of course, is what it is -- an annoyance. In this case, it's a royal pain.
Having massive damage to your home or business is really a disaster.
I don't know why Waukesha and Jefferson Counties weren't among the first Wisconsin counties to receive federal disaster status.
If your home is dry, or drying out, and clogged traffic is your most pressing flood-related concern at this point, consider yourself blessed.
2 comments:
That stretch of I-94 is in Jefferson County, not Waukesha. I've heard two explanations for the delay: One, we didn't have enough votes for Doyle. Two, the damage is still increasing, so they wait. That only makes a smidgeon of sense to me.
The situation within the city of Jefferson is just as bad. A normally 3-minute trip from the north side of town to the south now takes about 30 minutes on the detour. It's like an island at the confluence of the Rock and Crawfish.
Besides I-94, I know the roads of Jefferson County are an absolute mess.
Doesn't the closure begin at Delafield in Waukesha County?
Rereading my post, it does seem as if I'm referring solely to the freeway closure when I bring up Waukesha County.
Actually, I was thinking of the flooding there in general. My failure to include Jefferson County in that statement was my mistake.
I expect the designation of federal disaster area will come soon for both counties. The delay seems strange.
Votes, shmotes. So many people are suffering.
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