Advertisement “I started writing a note on the wall to my kids,” Clements said. “I thought that was it. I wasn’t going to make it.”
But then Clements took a little flashlight he had with him and was able to signal La Farge Fire Department rescue workers passing nearby in a motorboat. They pulled Clements and his dog, “Makita,” aboard to safety. Clements was thankful his 12-year-old daughter was not at his home when the flood hit.
“I was never so happy to see some people,” Clements said.
Clements recounted the story on Monday and pointed to the high water mark from the historic 1978 flood that is considered the worst flood in modern history in the Kickapoo Valley. The flood waters Sunday night were at least two feet higher than the high water mark from 1978, Clements said. He slept in a van on higher ground Sunday night. As of Monday, his home was still under water and he didn’t know what he was going to do for shelter.
La Farge residents Jeff and Julie Gable spent Monday trying to clean up their trucking company’s office on the east side of La Farge.
They pulled Jeff Gable’s beloved collectibles, model cars and memorabilia from the flood water, which was eight inches deep in their office.
“I never though the water would get that high,” Gable said. “The worst case I thought was it might come close, but I didn’t think it would get this far.”
The flooding Kickapoo River overcame virtually all of the buildings on the south side of La Farge. The river crossed Main Street and reached the La Farge Truck Center.
Todd Deaver, who was coordinating relief efforts in La Farge with Phil Stittleburg, said the Kickapoo River beat its old crest record in La Farge by about 18 inches.
The river was receding by about one inch per hour, Deaver said, Monday, at 5 p.m.
Viola
As the river traveled south Sunday night it crested at a new record of 21.17 feet on in Viola according to the National Weather Service.
Pete Strachan, of the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, said the river rose so high that it was above the bridge and was even with the bridge railings.
The grounds of the Viola Horse and Colt Show and Banker Park were flooded, Monday. All that was visible was the roofs of shelters on the grounds.
A high water mark from the flood of 1978 notched on one of the shelter beams showed that this year’s flood rose at least a foot higher.
Law enforcement officers were using motor boats to travel up and down Viola’s Main Street. Viola was basically cut in half.
Jim Matthes was coordinating relief efforts in Viola.
Shelters had been set up at La Farge High School, La Farge Methodist Church and Viola Methodist Church. Other shelters in Vernon County were at the Ontario Baptist Church, Ontario Library and Viroqua High School.
Ontario
In Ontario, Monday, residents were scraping slick mud from businesses and roads after floodwaters of the Kickapoo River receded earlier in the day.
The river at Ontario crested at 21.7 feet around 5 p.m. Sunday, swamping the intersection of state Hwys. 33 and 131, backing up water into part of the downtown and submerging the village’s baseball field and a playground near American Legion Post 467.
But the water rapidly receded Monday morning, dropping below flood stage by 11 a.m., leaving canoes scattered on both sides of Hwy. 131.
One of the hardest-hit businesses was Kickapoo Paddle Inn restaurant, which took on 2½ feet of water, said owner Tony Kelbel. “It tipped all my freezers over and I lost all my food,” he said as friends and neighbors helped clean up the mess.
“This is the most amazing thing here, the people,” Kelbel said of the dozen or so helpers. “Small towns. It’s priceless.”
“We knew it was going to be really bad,” said Kelbel’s friend, Samantha Wagner. “He got the worst of it all. All of his land was under, everything. We’re just a small community, willing to do whatever.”
Ontario Fire Chief Kevin Knoll said county and township crews were working on reopening roads, and urged people not to come down because the roads aren’t in great condition.
“The water’s receding quite well. Downriver they’re not going to like that too much,” Knoll said.
National Guard soldiers from Ft. McCoy helped Ontario firefighters about 10:30 p.m. Sunday checking on residents who refused to leave a mobile home park southwest of town.
Knoll said that on Sunday afternoon, park residents were advised to leave for a shelter in town. Much of the park is on higher ground, but the access road over Brush Creek is prone to flooding, which cuts off access.
“A few didn’t want to leave. When the water got too high for us to go over and check on, we got the National Guard to come down with their vehicles. They went over and checked. One more party left, and the others stayed in place,” Knoll said.
Nan’s Suds N’ Such, a car wash and coin-operated laundry, got 8 to 12 inches of water inside, despite the sandbags piled outside.
Owner Nancy Brieske, and her son Dennis, said the last time they had a flood this bad was 1978, when the water was 4 feet high in the business.
Kelbel, who also owns Drifty’s Complete Canoe Rental, said he hopes to reopen in two weeks.
The Kickapoo River at Ontario rose quickly as the rains fell over the weekend, from 8.6 feet around noon Saturday to nearly 19 feet by 5:15 p.m. Saturday. Flood stage is 18 feet.
The river had dipped to 17.8 feet at 6 a.m. Sunday, but rose again to a crest of 21.7 feet around 5:15 p.m. Sunday, according to the National Weather Service in La Crosse. It had dropped to 15.8 feet by 1 p.m. Monday.
Vernon County
There were 110 roads closed in Vernon County, Linda Nederlo, the public information officer for the Vernon County Emergency Operations Center, said as of 3 p.m., Monday afternoon.
The bridge over the Kickapoo River in Readstown was flooded and traffic on Hwy. 14 was being rerouted.
Nederlo said some Vernon County residents, perhaps 50 separate residences, were without power late Monday afternoon. She said so far Vernon County officials have no estimates to either the public or private damage caused.
“We had aerial photos from both airplanes and helicopters to look at today and we saw where, in some places, whole roads were washed away,” Nederlo said. “All of our dams are holding. They have suffered damage. There is still the potential for some of them to fail.”
The good news was that evacuation orders for residents living below the Melby, Ostrem, Raaum, Thompson and Eagles Park dams were lifted. However, evacuation orders remained in place for residents living below the Runge Hollow, Duck Egg (town of Jefferson); Yttri-Primmer, Seas Branch, Hidden Valley, (town of Viroqua); Jacobson (town of Webster); Sidie Hollow (town of Sterling); and Jersey Valley dams (town of Christiana).
Nederlo said Monday morning that the damage in Vernon County from this year’s flood will surpass damage in the county during the flood of August 2007. Damage in that flood to public infrastructure alone was tallied at $50 million. The county has not yet begun to do damage assessments.
Gov. Jim Doyle scheduled an appearance at North Crawford High School between Soldiers Grove and Gays Mills at 4 p.m. Monday. The flooding Kickapoo River was to travel through that area Monday night.
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