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Flash flooding rips through area Marquette and McGregor hit hard

Early morning storms appeared to do little damage in Crawford County, but dumped anywhere from seven to over nine inches of water in Clayton County, Iowa and Grant County, Wis. causing flooding, mud slides and damage to houses and property. The National Weather Service in La Crosse had also received reports of houses coming off their foundations and LP gas containers floating on the river.

McGregor, which had an overnight rainfall of 9.47 inches, and Marquette, with a total of 8.09 inches, sustained heavy damage. Streets and highways flooded, retaining walls failed and power outages occurred.

Dan Bickel, chief of the McGregor Hook and Ladder Dept., began monitoring the storm at about midnight. At 1:30 a.m., Valley View Senior Apartments on Buell Ave. were evacuated. A drainage culvert next to the building was overflowing, and emergency personnel feared that if they waited they may not be able to get people out.

Joel Biggs Emergency Management Director for Clayton County arrived in McGregor at about 1:45 a.m. to set up an emergency command post. "It was a special kind of rain that just dumped right here," Biggs said.

By that time, Marquette had already lost power. In McGregor, staff from the municipal power plant worked to keep water out of the generating station and kept the power on.

At 2 a.m. Bickel paged all firefighters to the scene. There was eight to 10 inches of water flowing down Main St.

On Brown St. in Marquette, water backed up behind a dike to a height of at least six feet, completely inundating several mobile homes. The residents of those homes were evacuated by boat between 2 a.m. and 3 a.m. by the McGregor Fire Department. U.S. Hwy. 18 was temporarily closed as water rushed across the pavement near Bituma Gencor. Even the MarMac Police Station sustained some flood damage.

According to Biggs, there were no injuries, but plenty of property damage. He also noted that the rain stopped at about 3:30 a.m., just as the main drainage canal in McGregor threatened to overflow and cause even more damage. He said that as the water subsided, dams in the canal caused by debris cleared themselves and water drained off quickly.

Fire departments from across Clayton County including Monona, Garnavillo, Postville and others were on hand to help out, and county and street highway crews also responded early in the morning. Most streets in Marquette-McGregor were open by 9:45 a.m., except Hwy. 76 along the river between the two towns, where reportedly, enormous boulders blocked the road.

Council nixes supervisory restructuring

Change was the word of the evening at last night's meeting of Prairie du Chien Common Council. Council accepted the resignation of City Planner Marty Larson, approved the hiring of Bruce Remz as the new fire chief and, after lengthy debate, voted down a plan to reorganize supervision in the water, sewer and street departments.

Marty Larson, city planner for the last eight months, submitted his resignation effective July 12. Larson could not be reached for comment, but in his resignation letter stated, "The decision to leave has been a very difficult one to make. It truly has been a pleasure to serve you for the eight months that I have been here."The search for a new planner will begin immediately, said City Administrator Gordon Gallagher, and council suggested a review of other candidates who had applied for the position when Larson was hired.

At the recommendation of the Police and Fire Commission, Council approved the hiring of Bruce (Harry) Remz as the new Fire Chief. Remz, one of 15 applicants for the position, has served on the Prairie du Chien Fire Depart ment for almost 10 years. Prior to that, he served in the Air Force over 20 years, working mainly in fire department operations. He will begin his duties Aug. 6 with a salary of $38,000 and the same benefits as other city department heads.

It was the proposal to reorganize departmental supervision, however, that occupied the greatest share of council time last night.

The proposal, as presented by Gallagher, was to reduce supervisory responsibilities in the street department, headed by Rodney Fishler, by shifting some street personnel to the supervision of water and waste treatment supervisors Larry Gates and Terry Meyer. Each would supervise two street department employees in addition to their own department. The shift would have more evenly distributed supervisory duties, reducing Fishler's supervision from 12 (eight full-time and four seasonal) to seven, three full-time and four seasonal. Gates and Meyer, who each currently supervise the equivalent of two and a half employees, would then each be in charge of four and a half employees plus one seasonal employee.

Gallagher explained that the duties of the reassigned employees would not change; they would merely report to different people. As compensation for additional supervisory duties, Gates and Meyer would receive an additional $2.33 an hour. He said if the change results in more efficient management of personnel the cost savings should make up for the additional supervisory expense. The effectiveness of the change would be reviewed at the end of the year.

Aside from evening out supervisory duties, part of the reason for the proposal, said Gallagher, was in response to complaints about the street department over the past several months, including some grievances filed by the employee union.

Councilmember Jaaren Riebe said the proposal had been approved unanimously by the personnel committee, and the restructuring should make all the departments more efficient. "I've heard a lot of griping from this council about inefficiency; now let's see if we can be more efficient. If this doesn't work we won't continue it."

Several councilmembers objected to the additional cost of the proposal. Said Aaron Collins: "It will cost the city over $9,000 a year and I don't think we will get any more service from it."

Nick Gilbert, a street department employee, addressed the council, asking that the department be given six months to improve anything that council was dissatisfied with. He added, "the water and sewer departments have the opportunity to raise rates. We don't. It isn't our fault there are streets that aren't drivable. We have no control over the budget."

Bob Saddler, president of the employee union, also opposed the proposed change, "When Rodney had nine people working under him no one offered him compensation. It doesn't seem fair. The street department could use that extra money [the additional $2.33 an hour to be paid to water and waste treatment supervisors] for equipment."

Councilmember Kathleen Hein, also on the personnel committee, supported the proposal, stating, "We have kept hearing about problems in the street department. Now we're trying something to fix it. It's worth taking a shot."

Fishler addressed the council at one point: "Why can't council talk to us directly? We do our jobs every single day and they get done. We work as a team. Give us the opportunity to show it by not splitting us up."

In response to his comment, Councilmember Dave Hemmer asked, "Why did you wait until now to tell us you'd all get along? This has been going on for a long while."

Councilmember Frank Pintz asked why Kaizen events, designed to increase efficiency, were offered for the police department and water and sewer, which were already operating well, and not to the street department.

In the end, doubts about the proposal and the extra expenses won out, and the proposal was defeated, with councilmembers Munson, Hein, Hemmer and Riebe voting in support, and Hackett, Boylen, Pintz, Collins, Gilberts and Dagnon opposing.

Bagley flooded by torrential downpour

"We just had torrential downpours here," said Julie Loeffelholz, Deputy Director of Grant County Emergency Management. "We rescued several people from the homes this morning."

Loeffelholz said that Bagley received approximately seven inches of rain in a short amount of time. She said that Grant County began receiving 911 calls from Bagley residents at about 1 p.m. Emergency personnel from numerous jurisdictions throughout the area arrived upon the scene within minutes.

Bagley was declared in a "State of Emergency" at 3:07 a.m. said Loeffelholz. Bagley Village President Roger Straka said that the west side of the Village of Bagley and the River of Lakes Resort were the hardest hit, with much of those areas flooded.

By 8:30 a.m., the water had receded quite a bit, but numerous homes in the River of Lakes were still surrounded by and filled with water. Several homes on the west side of Bagley had their basements full of water and some had human sewage backed up into the homes.

"I think that several homes in the River of Lakes will be a total loss," said Straka. "Most other residents there won't be back in their homes for several days."

Straka and Loeffelholz said that search and rescue operations were ongoing until dawn. They said that numerous propane tanks had been floating and that there was an unsubstantiated report that a large camper-trailer had floated away. Loeffelholz said that there were no reports of injuries.

Bagley is under a "boil water order"until further notice due to possible contamination, said Loeffelholz.

Loeffelholz and other emergency personnel said that the railroad tracks became, in effect, a dike that held back the fast-rising water from emptying into the Mississippi River. The railroad has been significantly damaged and has been shut down.

Nearby Jellystone Campground has sustained damage and there were several mud slides on County P that had to be cleared with earthmoving equipment and dump trucks. County X leading to the village of Wyalusing is closed due to high water and road damage.

"The road has basically been wiped out," said Loeffelholz.

Loeffelholz said that power companies and propane companies have been contacted to assist in the emergency. She also noted that the Red Cross is on the scene and will be administering tetanus shots. The Grant County United Counseling Services is available for victims of the flooding.

Straka, Loeffelholz and other emergency personnel said that the last time that Bagley had flooding of such magnitude was about 15 years ago. The flooding then was due to the Mississippi River. They said that the flooding now is not due to the river, but rather, to torrential rains.

The numerous emergency agencies that were on the scene included, but were not limited to, the Grant County Sheriff's Department, the Grant County Emergency Management, the Crawford County Sheriff's Department, the Crawford County Emergency Management, the Bagley Volunteer Fire Department and numerous other fire departments from throughout the area, the Grant County Health Department, Richland County emergency personnel, and numerous others.