Lake Delton Flooding Disaster

Lake Delton, today (Photo/Joe Koshollek)



My photos of Lake Delton, two weeks ago
UDPATE, from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

Lake Delton near the Dells is essentially empty after the rain-swollen lake cut its own channel around a dam and emptied into the Wisconsin River, taking four homes with it.

The lake is the home of the famed Tommy Bartlett Water Show. Tom Diehl, who operates the show and is a trustee for the Village of Lake Delton, said there was nothing but mud where the show is staged every day.

"We haven't had a show since Friday," Diehl said in a telephone interview. "We canceled Saturday and Sunday because of high water," he said. "Today, we're canceling because of no water."

Diehl estimated there were 10-15 resorts on Lake Delton. Those resorts will lose significant business, Diehl said.

On the scene where the lake used to be, Journal Sentinel photographer Joe Koshollek said it looks as if a plug had been pulled from a bathtub filled with water. The lake, which is where the popular amphibious Ducks travel, has been pretty much all drained.

"The lake is gone," Koshollek said. "I heard one girl say 'I'm out of a job' because she rents jet skis."

Boats are lying on their sides in the muck of the lake and piers lead out into what just a few hours ago was a large lake filled with water.

..."Last night you could have looked at our stage and the water was four feet above our stage. We have nothing but mud in front of us now. No water. Just mud," Diehl said.

"What happened is the lake had risen really quickly and found an outlet and started draining catastrophically," said Andrea Novotny, public relations representative with the Bartlett show. "The shoreline is down so far we are without a venue to perform on without water being there. That's where we are right now."

Novotny also represents the Original Wisconsin Ducks and Dells Boat Tours. She said as of noon today, all tours were cancelled on the Lower Dells due to the water conditions. They are still operating on the Upper Dells, she said.

This is unreal.
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The rain isn't falling but the damage from the flooding continues to mount.

Madison's WKOW reports:

Lake Delton police tell 27 News that two houses have been washed away by flooding in Lake Delton.

620 WTMJ reports that three Lake Delton homes have been washed away.

This really is horrible.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports:

Three homes were swept away along with part of Highway A in Sauk County where a swollen Lake Delton flowed over the banks and into the Wisconsin River, according to the county's emergency management director Jeff Jelinek.

Jelinek stressed that the dam on Lake Delton did not break when the lake breached about 10 a.m. near County Highway A and Dam Road.

..."Up from the dam the lake just got so much pressure and so much water it went over the banks to the river and started making its own channel," Jelinek said. "As the water started exiting the lake, it made its own channel. It went across Highway A and as it got wider it took three homes with it."

He said the lake also washed out about 300 feet of Highway A, which may have grown since the initial breach.

NBC15 reports:

A Flash Flood WARNING has been issued for west central Columbia county and northeastern Sauk County until 4:30pm. At 10:34pm, Sauk County Emergency Manager reported Flash Flooding from Lake Delton spilling out, making its own diversion to the Wisconsin River. The water will continue to spill out of Lake Delton through a channel across County Trunk A. This area is impassable!

620 WTMJ has video from NBC15 WMTV "of a home being swallowed by water that has started flowing between Lake Delton and the Wisconsin River. The city's police chief tells Newsradio 620 WTMJ that what looks like a river in the video actually used to be dry land."

Channel 3000 WISC-TV has reports and video here and here.

More video.

Governor Jim Doyle talks about the damage, but says, "Well, one thing I want people to understand is the Dells and Lake Delton are open for business. Even in the middle of all of this, as I was going around, and when I was in the area, you could see the water slides were all operating and people were going down them. I went past a golf outing, so most of the Dells and the Dells attractions are fully going."
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UPDATE, June 11, 2008: Governor Jim Doyle holds a fundraising golf event for himself while floods ravage the state. The suggested contribution per golfer was $1,250.

Is this the time for Doyle to be playing 18 holes, raising money for his 2010 campaign?

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