Wisconsin Floods 2008: "Lake Delton has vanished"

Submitted by Jesse Russell on Wed, 2008-06-11 12:00. Current | Environment

The headlines read like opening lines from a science fiction novel: Lake Delton is gone. Sadly, the disappearance of Lake Delton wasn’t caused by a mad scientist with a Lake Stealing Ray, it is a traumatic reality. Early in the morning on June 9 residents around the Sauk County lake began sandbagging. Their valiant efforts were unable to keep up with the rising waters and shortly after 10 a.m. the lake washed out enough land to cut a new channel around the dam and began flowing into the Wisconsin River. The center point of a billion dollar Wisconsin tourism industry and daily backdrop for thousands of residents had been reduced to mud and sediment. Governor Jim Doyle has pledged to rebuild the dam and refill the lake, but that isn’t enough to stop the shock and bewilderment Wisconsinites are feeling after the loss of the 81-year-old man made lake. Estimates suggest the lake won’t return until 2009, in the meantime, residents plan to make the best of it with a massive “clean the lake bottom” campaign. Over the years a large number of items had sunk to the bottom of the lake and on Saturday from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. anyone who wants to don booties and trudge through the mud can help.

On Tuesday, the damage estimate to homes and private property from the weekend floods throughout Sauk County was $4.1 million. Sandbagging continues in an attempt to stave off more floodwaters as more storm fronts move into the region later today. Below we have collected news reports and blog reactions of the Lake Delton Washout of 2008 and other flood reports from around Wisconsin:

The Village of Lake Delton failed to renew flood insurance and as a result the five homes that were washed away as the lake became a channel will not be covered by the National Flood Insurance Program. WISC reported “the village had been a participating member in the NFIP since 1975, but failed to formally adopt a new floodplain the Federal Emergency Management Agency map in 2001. So the village had its eligibility canceled.”

Sauk County isn’t the only region of the state hit hard by the storms. Today Gov. Doyle is flying across the state to get a better perspective on the flooding throughout the state. The Capital Times gives a detailed perspective of what the governor will be checking out.

The Chicago Tribune spoke with Chicagoans who make yearly trip up to the Dells and a few who consider the resort town a second home.

The Milwaukee Business Journal has a detailed look on how the entertainment and resort industry plans to cope. Some resorts, including Wilderness on the Lake, are slashing room rates by up to 25 percent. For obvious reasons the water portions of the long running Tommy Bartlett Show will be cancelled indefinitely, but the air and shore portions will continue. The iconic Wisconsin Duck tours will continue once high waters on the river retreat, but the Lake Delton portion will be rerouted.

The Art of Grand Gestures paints a picture of what it meant to vacation on Lake Delton:

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No Dells vacation was complete without a visit to the Tommy Bartlett water show, with the perky water skiers doing acrobat tricks as they glide atop Lake Delton. Resorts perched at the edge of the lake catered to the weary city dwellers, providing an abundance of clean air and a close-up view of fresh, calming water.

One Among Many echoes what many people in the region are feeling as the threat of more rain looms:

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The rivers are over flowing and pushing all other dams to the brink of destruction as well. His son's house is near the river. Their area has been evacuated. If the dam somewhat near them breaks, 4,000 people will lose power. They do this as a safety measure but it also stops the sump pumps from working. Basements will flood if they cut the power. Homes will flood when the dam breaks near us.

Oh Noes!! sees a postponement to vacation plans, “now, where there was a beautiful lake, there's a big mud puddle. fun right? we were even gonna bring the Banana Republics, or the sunfish up next time we went up in the summer. well that plan's off until the lake refills.”

Chas In The News brings up a question most of us are thinking:

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However my question is how can we help. Will you help.

My daughter is already asking what can we do?

I think the big thing is to donate to the Red Cross of Wisconsin.

However I would like to do something so I know it goes directly to these
family's.

Any ideas?

Missy, who appears to be a morning talk radio station host in Texas, writes on her blog:

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Could you imagine if you came home and your house was completely gone and on top of that knowing that the insurance will not cover the damage. One guy even said "everything is gone and we still have a 23 year mortgage to pay off." That just kills me. I'm hoping that someone kind enough saw the story and will help these families out. Please Pray for comfort to the families effected by the floods.

Gojackets comments in the USCHO forums that he grew up near Lake Delton and worries about Gays Mills:

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I grew up near the dells and have friends down there and they can't describe the tragedy that they are going through. Its pretty insane. All of Southern wisconsin is basically underwater right now. Gays Mills is going to be destroyed less than 10 months after it was wrecked by floodwaters last fall...and the scary thing is that its supposed to rain for the next few days, so its only going to get worse. The farm I grew up on is underwater.

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