Swamped

Before going to bed, Jacob Bicknase noticed an alert on his phone about flooding in Mazomanie. Still, he was dumbstruck to see a foot of water outside his front door when he woke up at 6 the next morning.

“I saw the water outside and was just like, ‘Whoa.’ Then I took a look in the basement. There was 2 or 3 feet of water down there. It was pouring in all four windows,” says Bicknase, a musician who, while not on tour with his bands Thompson Springs and Acoplados, lives with his parents, David and Mimi, in his hometown. “We don’t live in a flood prone area…. I’m not sure how you could have predicted this.”

The night before, Monday, Aug. 20, record-breaking rainfall dumped 11 inches on Mazomanie. The west side of Madison was hit with 9 inches. Over 15 inches pummeled Cross Plains — the most rain to fall in a 24-hour period in state history. Black Earth and Arena were hit hard by the storm, too. Like many, Bicknase and his family weren’t prepared for flood waters invading their one-story home.

“We’re a musical family and we kept a lot of instruments in the basement. A lot of mementos,” says Bicknase. “For that first hour, I was just trying to get whatever I could out of the water. But it wasn’t very long before we realized that the water was still rising.”

The surge had swelled up to the front stoop and was level with the entryway. That’s when Bicknase saw firefighters walking through the water. They told him a boat would be by in 10 minutes to evacuate them.

“We only had time to pack a few bags. Whatever we could carry and that was it. We didn’t know if the water would keep rising or to what extent the final damage would be,” says Bicknase. “Right before we got on the boat, the water was up to my waist outside. You could feel a current going by that was pulling towards lower ground. It was dangerous.”

Bicknase took some video on his phone while he, his parents and their golden labrador, Luna, were evacuated by boat to higher ground. Bicknase’s mom, Mimi, is heard saying in the video, “I can’t believe we are boating down our road. I cannot believe this.”

They were taken to a nearby hill, about a 3-minute boat ride away, where they waited with many of their neighbors, unsure of what would happen next.

Later that day they returned to survey the damage. Their home, their vehicles and most of their possessions were destroyed. They saw a watermark at the very top of their home — 9 feet off the ground. Jacob’s dad, David, helped make many of the musical attractions at House on the Rock and had some personal creations stored in the basement.

“That’s probably the most devastating thing that was lost. All these handmade instruments my dad had made. Those can never be replaced — one of a kind,” says Bicknase, whose family is staying in Monona with friends. “There are a lot of elderly people who have lived in the neighborhood for years. Nobody saw this coming and I worry about how they will cope with this.”

Over the next few days, the rain that fell in the area worked its way to Lake Mendota. The Tenney Park lagoon flooded onto a section of East Johnson Street, forcing its closure. The Yahara River inched its way closer and closer to homes. The city’s stormwater system was overwhelmed, causing pools to form on North Paterson, East Mifflin and other streets in low-lying sections of town.

With more rain in the forecast, officials in Madison and Monona sounded the alarm. Thousands of sandbags were filled and residents piled them around their homes. The rain, though pounding at times, came in lighter than expected. While the threat of flooding from saturated storm drains is not over, the water, for now, is retreating.

Emily Stanley, a professor at UW-Madison’s Center for Limnology, says the potential for flooding in the Madison area is nothing new. But she and other scientists warn that climate change could make severe storms — and, by extension, flooding — more common.

“What’s different is double-digit inches of rainfall in such a short period of time,” she says. “When you add the water really, really quickly, it’s like if you eat Thanksgiving dinner in five minutes. It doesn’t feel the same as it would if you ate it over the course of a few hours.”

Flash flooding caused chaos in Madison on Aug. 20. That night major intersections like Odana, Mineral Point and McKenna were impassable because of high water. Lanes of the Beltline were flooded. Shoppers at Costco in Middleton took refuge in the big-box store overnight because of the deluge.

Ald. Matt Phair and his wife, Connie, were surveying the flooded streets when they came upon an SUV stuck in a flooded ditch. They helped two passengers get to safety. But Phair and another good samaritan struggled in vain as the driver was swept out of their grip by rushing waters. The man, 70-year-old James Sewell, was found dead 13 hours later, nearly a third of a mile away. Sewell had been a longtime employee of the Wisconsin Historical Society where he focused on architectural preservation.

Daniel Wright, an assistant professor at UW-Madison’s engineering school, studies rainfall and climate data to predict flood risk.

“If you look at the observations of rainfall — which in this country go back a century, if not more — it’s clear in the Midwest that the frequency and intensity of these heavy rainfall events are going up. In particular, the events that are changing the most are these relatively short-lived, summertime storms like the one we [just] experienced,” says Wright. “Even back in June, we had a fairly intense storm that caused some flooding. These types of events are becoming more common and are the type of storms that urban areas are particularly vulnerable to in terms of flood risk.”

Fortunately for residents of the isthmus and Monona, the record rainfalls that caused devastating flooding in Mazomanie and other communities west of Madison largely missed the Yahara watershed.

“It’s reasonable to think, to some degree, [Madison] dodged a bullet,” Wright says. “The eastern edge of the storm did hit the Yahara watershed. But areas farther west got even more rainfall. So if the storm had been centered over Madison, the flooding could have been much worse.”

Phil Gaebler, a city water resources engineer, says a lot of the rain that fell on Madison’s west side, Middleton and the north edge of Lake Mendota did work its way into the lakes after a few days.

“That runoff came into the system,” says Gaebler. Water flows down Lake Mendota, through the Yahara River into lakes Monona, Waubesa and Kegonsa. When water levels on Mendota threatened the Tenney Dam, county officials doubled the rate of flow through the Yahara River, which peaked at 330,000 gallons a minute.

“Monona and Waubesa drain relatively slowly. Usually there is enough room within Lake Monona that they can release water, through the Yahara, at a slow enough rate that it doesn’t cause it to rise up,” says Gaebler. “In this scenario, the efforts to draw water down on Lake Mendota [was] more than the system could handle but necessary.”

Increasing the flow through the Tenney Lock caused the Yahara River to rise rapidly, sending water onto adjacent bike paths and streets. The alternative would have been worse.

“If they shut down the lock, [water] would find the lowest point through the isthmus. It would be the earthen portion of the dam and not the concrete structure,” says Wright. “You want the water to go through the defined, engineered outlet.”

Meanwhile, the stormwater system was at capacity throughout the isthmus, which caused water to back up on North Livingston, East Mifflin, East Main and other streets.

“If you think of the isthmus as a bathtub with an uneven bottom, it’s all connected with the storm sewer network. As the whole system fills up, it’s coming up and onto the surface,” says Gaebler. “The water is the same level at all the storm sewers on the isthmus right now, which are connected to the lake. Flooding occurs first where the ground isn’t as high.”

By Friday, Aug. 24, the increased flow through the Yahara had lowered Lake Mendota’s level by an inch. By Aug. 26, Lake Mendota had drained enough to decrease the flow rate through the Yahara — which, along with cooperative weather, caused water to recede along the river and from flooded isthmus streets.

But rain on the night of Aug. 27 prompted the county to again increase the flow of water into the Yahara.

Stanley says agricultural and urban development have made it harder for the Yahara watershed to absorb water.

“We’ve turned what used to be wetlands into crop lands,” she says. “Things are done to help farms be productive. That involves making sure water drains efficiently in the spring. So when you have an event like this in the summer, the same thing is going to happen. The water is going to drain off efficiently and rapidly. The watershed has lost some degree of its capacity to buffer extreme events.”

Madison Mayor Paul Soglin has held daily press conferences about the flood crisis as it unfolds. The city readied evacuation plans in case residents were forced from their homes, hung warning fliers on residents’ doors, coordinated sandbagging operations and issued flood maps.

Madison dodged the worst of storms that hit Wisconsin starting this past weekend. But heavy rains on Aug. 28 elevated Lake Mendota so more water will be sent down the Yahara. The next day Soglin said that rain forecast for Friday and Saturday may extend the time it takes for the city to dry out.

“People just want to know it’s over,” said Soglin at a news conference. “I understand the stress people feel. But we can not say the event has ended. And we won’t be able to say that until we’ve had a significant period of dry weather and both lake levels are down.”

The mayor estimates more than 160,000 sandbags were filled and distributed to residents and businesses. Volunteers filled bag after bag to protect apartments close to the Yahara River and on Merry Street. Teenagers from Operation Fresh Start helped fill sandbags on flooded Marston Avenue. Sandbagging operations were set up at Tenney and Brittingham parks. As Lake Monona rose, the city of Monona distributed sandbags and fortified the Belle Isle neighborhood.

Peter Taglia spent most of Saturday filling sandbags at Brittingham Park, which is across from his house. “I give the city and county props for really doing a good job,” he says. “They connected everyone.”

Taglia, a geologist, was happy to see the city using tools — such as geographic information system mapping — it had developed over the years. “They put together these really detailed maps that the city has been using for the sandbagging operations. I would tell people that is our tax money at work,” he says. “You hire professionals that are competent and you get some of this good information that helps this community effort.”

Gov. Scott Walker called in the National Guard on Aug. 24 to help Madison and Monona with flood prep. The governor and First Lady Tonette Walker made a rare appearance in Madison the following day to help fill sandbags at Tenney Park.

“We had flooding in the front yard and on one whole side from the lake to the street,” says Tonette Walker of the Executive Residence in Maple Bluff. “The vegetables in our garden ended up in our neighbor’s yard.”

Some neighbors thanked the governor but others took the opportunity to criticize his policies.

Tom Kasper, a resident of Elizabeth Street, held a sign behind Walker that accused the governor of staging a photo op while ignoring climate change.

Another man biked up to Walker to confront him: “Gov. Walker, I want to say that your time and energy would be much better spent enacting policies to counteract climate change rather than shoveling sand into bags. Would you agree?”

“Glad you’re here. Thanks for watching,” replied Walker. “You can say what you want. You can call me a F-word if you want.”

“I’m not doing that,” the man countered. “I’m just saying climate change policy would be more effective than shoveling sand. Otherwise, you’ll be out here next year, too.”

After the man left, Isthmus asked Walker how he plans to address the threat of flooding in Madison. Dane County’s initial cost estimate from the flood is $108 million. The governor did not offer specific solutions.

“The biggest thing with emergency management funds is mitigation,” said Walker. “So, we’ll do that as we’ve done elsewhere. It’s not the first time we’ve done it — we’ve helped with mitigation across the state. Particularly if we get a federal [emergency] declaration — obviously we already have a state one — we’ll make sure a good amount of those funds go to mitigation. We’ll look to Wisconsin Emergency Management and other agencies to see what next steps are.”

Walker said his public appearances don’t normally prompt protests.

“We don’t get them anywhere but Madison but that’s all right,” said the governor. “I like to support our guard when they are out doing stuff and see what they are doing. We’re going to go thank those guys down on Johnson right now.”

Marston Avenue resident Bob Spoerke spent the last week watching the Tenney Park lagoon creep up to the sidewalk in front of his house. He says he questioned the governor about the state Department of Natural Resources purging language on its website attributing climate change to human activities and rising levels of carbon dioxide. He also told the governor that climate change was real.

“[Walker] looked at me and said ‘that’s your opinion.’ But climate change isn’t my opinion, it’s established fact,” says Spoerke. “I’ve been agitated ever since. There’s been two catastrophic floods in northern Wisconsin the past three years. These 100- and 500-year events are happening every few months.”

State Rep. Chris Taylor (D-Madison) is frustrated that Republicans in the Legislature won’t accept that climate change is causing more extreme weather in Wisconsin.

“The storms are worse. I don’t even care why [GOP lawmakers] think they are worse. But let’s address what’s confronting us. The weather doesn’t care if you’re a Republican or a Democrat. The damage is the same,” says Taylor. “For us not to address this is irresponsible and it puts people’s lives in danger.”

Taylor cites changes to wetland permitting and the state curbing local regulatory authority as actions that have made it more difficult for communities to prevent damage from severe weather.

Stanley says the potential for flooding in Madison and other communities should not surprise anyone.

“We don’t know when big storms will come but we do know they seem to be coming more frequently. We are aware that there is a link between these events and the changing climate,” says Stanley. “From a personal point of view, it is frustrating. We had the opportunity to address this on a global scale. This isn’t just a Wisconsin issue.”

Stanley says steps can be taken to build capacity to absorb rain water in the Yahara watershed but “options are limited” in urban areas.

“We could add more stormwater retention [ponds] that are basically urban wetlands. But when the city is already built, you don’t have opportunities to put in a wetland or a retention pond. There is already a house or an apartment building there,” says Stanley. “Many of the new high rises and apartment buildings in Madison have sprouted up over the past decade in some of the most flood vulnerable spots on the isthmus,” between the Capitol and First Street.

Ald. Ledell Zellers, who represents much of that area, says city engineering staff are diligent about requiring developers to mitigate potential environmental issues caused by new structures. But she says new high rises, like the Constellation and the Galaxie apartments on East Washington Avenue, haven’t exacerbated flooding.

“What we had before was impermeable and what we have now is impermeable,” says Zellers. “What I’ve been told is that those [new developments] are not worsening the flood situation.”

But as development expands from the concrete-heavy East Washington corridor into greener residential areas, Zellers is unsure how builders will mitigate flooding. She says a development approved for the 700 block of East Johnson is being required to have “permanent dewatering” systems in place and have measures to “safely route runoff when the storm sewer is at capacity.”

“I’m wondering how that’s going to be accomplished given what we are seeing right now. That’s a very low-lying area. The storm sewer is at capacity right now. So what will this development do with that extra runoff?” asks Zellers, who says the developers must be able to answer those questions before receiving a building permit. “I’m not an engineer but that seems very challenging. All I know is that it certainly won’t help to replace permeable surfaces with impermeable ones and, in some cases, we are doing that.”

There’s long been debate over whether lake levels are being kept artificially high to benefit boaters. Dane County Supv. Yogesh Chawla, who represents the Atwood area and the town of Blooming Grove, intends to revive the discussion over lake levels after the immediate crisis passes. In 1979, the state set lake levels for the Yahara chain of lakes. Chawla says Dane County is allowed to adjust lake levels within a 6-inch range.

“Long term, I intend to support lowering lake levels. Climate change is real. We need to take steps to combat these extreme storms involving stormwater and lake level management,” says Chawla. “This needs to be a top priority.”

Taylor says she’s eager to work with local and state officials to create a “comprehensive plan and come up with policies that make sure the community doesn’t have to go through this again.”

“City and county staff have been working around the clock and are incredible. They literally haven’t been sleeping,” says Taylor. “It’s reminded me, once again, of the strength of our community. I’ve seen neighbors helping neighbors…. We’ll get through this.”

The house Jacob Bicknase and his parents evacuated more than week ago remains unlivable, at least for a few months. His parents hope to move to a nearby house, which also sustained flood damage, but is on higher ground. Bicknase plans on helping his parents get settled before deciding whether to move to Madison or out-of-state.

“Life has been put on hold at least for the time being. Sitting back and reflecting has been difficult,” he says. “It’s going to take many months, probably a year, before our community recovers.”

Bicknase says his family, and others in his neighborhood, are receiving help from the Red Cross.

“Most of our belongings we had to throw out. The Red Cross has a connection to St. Vinny’s. We are welcome to get whatever we need there which is amazing. The community has really banded together,” says Bicknase, who offers this advice to others. “Be kind to your neighbors. Trust your neighbors. You never know when you might need them or they might need you.”

Editor's note: This article originally listed the wrong year for when the state set the range for levels for the Yahara chain of lakes. It was 1979 not 1976.