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Henry Wadsworth Longfellow said, “Into each life a little rain must fall,” but this is ridiculous.

With the ground already saturated from what was a long winter and a wet spring, last weekend the heavens opened to dump nine inches of water on Viroqua and other portions of Vernon County.

There’s absolutely nothing funny about it.

More than 100 roads were out and the only way to go down Main Street in Viola was in a motorboat.

In terms of weather extremes, Vernon County has been at the sharp end of the spear since last August’s floods. With about $60 million in damage, we thought those were bad. The 100-year flood, right?

Well, how about the second 100-year flood in 10 months?

What’s next? Plagues of locusts and frogs? An Obama-Clinton presidential ticket? When will this crippling madness end?

I was pondering this very question as I watched a small river of water flow through my basement on Sunday night. Luckily everything important was in plastic totes. I figured, if I started to sink, I’d just grab ahold of one of those. It should float. Did I mention I live at the pinnacle of all the high ground in the city of Viroqua?

The way Saturday started, I should have figured events of Biblical proportions were afoot.

First of all, there was no electrical service in northern Viroqua. Everywhere from Kwik Trip North past Hansen’s Mobil, nobody was unable to watch television. People came outside and looked at the clear blue sky.

I was at Walgreens waiting for a prescription. Ah, but the computers were down. At about 11 a.m. the power went back on. Eventually Walgreens opened and, prescription filled, I headed north.

Shortly after getting through Westby, it started raining. Pouring really. I slowed down to 35 miles per hour so I could see.

I was happy the rain didn’t come until after the end of the dairy breakfast at Royal Flush Dairy in Westby. It was one of few brights for the weekend.

Upon arrival at La Crosse, Mormon Coulee Road was impassible at the southern Kwik Trip. The water was a couple feet deep and I could see one car stalled out in the far right lane, so I pulled into Kwik Trip, went to the far north exit, and escaped the deep water.

I had some very specific missions to accomplish in La Crosse on Saturday. I rarely go there unless work calls or I need a video game -- you know, something important.

Well, I was thinking about picking up a used Xbox 360, but was dismayed that the basic model doesn’t come with an internal hard disk, which means you can’t save games. So, instead of dropping $200 on a used Xbox 360, I found out that I was better off buying a new Xbox 360 with a 20 GB hard disk included. That cost $350.

I told the clerk I would think about it and left the store. I walked to a nearby bench and sat down. You know, I basically grew up in the Janesville Mall, so watching people at the Valley View Mall was a bit of a throwback to my younger days. After a while I decided that I couldn’t afford $350 for an Xbox 360. Seems stupid to be thinking of buying a video game when people were just about to lose everything in a flood.

All-in-all it was a bummer and I left La Crosse.

I headed south and made it home just before it started to rain again. Then there was a tornado warning. Then the power went out again. This time for about 40 minutes.

I went to bed very early Saturday night, at about 8:30 p.m. I figured the whole county would be flooded and the Emergency Operations Center would be open in the morning. I would need to be rested, because the next few days were going to be very busy.

I haven’t been disappointed in that. I worked all day Sunday and Monday compiling stories and photos on the flooding. I updated the Broadcaster’s website a bunch of times. I took some trips to see washed out roads, hoping I wouldn’t get washed out on the way. Tim Hundt really made the bold trip, on Monday, reaching both La Farge and Viola. He had to go via Cashton to get there.

I feel for the people who have lost everything during this flood. The only way to get through it, for me, seems to be with a dose of sarcasm and humor. But it’s not funny. Not at all. Right now I just hoping it stays dry for a while.

You can e-mail Matt Johnson at matt.johnson@lee.net