Story originally printed in the Westby Times or online at www.westbytimes.com
Published - Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Portions of La Farge evacuated; Coon Valley impassible due to flooding
Vernon County officials began the process of evacuating residents living on the south side of La Farge near Highway 131 due to flood waters rising in the Kickapoo River, Sunday afternoon.
While the West Branch of the Kickapoo was flooding, Coon Creek also flooded, cutting off travel through Chaseburg on Hwy. 162.
In fact, there were 40 road closures in Vernon County at 1 p.m. n more than during the floods of August 2007.
Linda Nederlo, the public information officer for the Vernon County Emergency Operations Center, said that 10-to-15 residences in La Farge were being evacuated for fear that that the Kickapoo River would flood them. Nederlo said a shelter was being set up at La Farge High School for displaced residents.
“We’re evacuating people living from the Nuzum’s building south to Hwy. 131 in La Farge,” Nederlo said. “That’s close to the Kickapoo River and the water is rising.”
The National Weather Service reported Sunday morning that areas of Vernon County had received more than six inches of rain in the past 24 hours, leading to flood conditions.
Randy Breeser, a data program manager at the La Crosse NWS office, said the Ontario area had received 6.2 inches of rain in the 24 hours preceding 8 a.m., Sunday. Other rainfall amounts in the same period for other Vernon County municipalities included: Viroqua 4.53, Genoa 4.5, La Farge 4.45 and Readstown 3.04 inches.
Rain stopped falling in Viroqua at about 10:30 a.m., but the NWS predicts more rain and thunderstorms to possibly roll through Vernon County late Sunday afternoon and evening.
Vernon County is under flood warnings and a flash flood watch.
Vernon County activated its EOC, Sunday morning at about 9 a.m., in response to ongoing flooding and predicted continued rainfall.
Earlier Sunday Vernon County officials confirmed the evacuation of residents from a trailer park near De Soto. Also, an evacuation order was issued for residents living in the area of the Yttri-Primmer dam in the watershed of the West Fork of the Kickapoo River in central Vernon County.
County officials are well aware of the dangers involved and work needed to organize flood relief efforts after dealing with widespread flooding in August of 2007. In August of 2007, Vernon County received anywhere from 6.5 to 11 inches of rain during a period of about 18 hours. This led to widespread flooding from Coon Valley and Chaseburg all the way to Viola. Gays Mills and Soldiers Grove also suffered significant flooding in those storms, which caused more than $60 million in damage locally. The storms led to Vernon County being among a group of counties declared both state and federal disaster areas.
Many of Vernon County's 22 flood control dams sustained damage in the August 2007 storms, but have not been fully repaired due to lack of money and time.
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