WISCONSIN DELLS, Wis. -- Entire homes were washed away into the Wisconsin River when Lake Delton breached its banks and drained.

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One of the homeowners whose house was swept away in the flood went searching by boat on Wednesday for any remains of his home or belongings that he could find.

Tim Fromm's family lost nearly everything when rain-ravaged Lake Delton broke through its banks and dumped more than 6 million gallons of water into the Wisconsin River. Their house -- a three-story home -- fell off its broken strip of land mostly intact and washed downstream.

Fromm's search for his lost property stretched as far as five miles from where the house once stood. As he made his way down the river in the Lower Dells, Fromm found things such as a refrigerator, a couch and a leather recliner. He searched with the help of Dells Boat Tours.

Both banks of the Wisconsin River are littered with debris from the floods and artifacts of family life. Refrigerators, recliners, couches, mattresses, pieces of porches all sit along the shoreline, WISC-TV reported.

"I'm just more curious about where all of our possessions went," Fromm said. "As we think about things what we lost, the list is endless. But just to find something would be interesting to bring back."

Further down the river, Fromm found his father's pontoon boat.

"Still has the cover on it, too," Fromm said.

Fromm found his house. Several miles south of Lake Delton sat the roof and part of the top floor of Fromm's home. However, the water was too shallow for the jet boat to go any further down river to reach it. The boat pilot said that the thick sand would clog the engines in the shallow area.

"It would be interesting to peek our head in there and see if there might be anything more," said Fromm. "I think I might have one of my buddies drive back in a boat that would be a little more safe."

In addition to debris from homes, there is a lot of natural debris like sand in the Lower Dells from the flooding. At one part of the river, sand reached 35 feet deep, down to the bottom of the Dells, which the boat operator said used to be one of the widest and deepest parts.

The state Department of Natural Resources said it's in the process of evaluating how much debris there to determine what might be hazardous, and what it will take to remove it from the river. Officials said it could take a couple of weeks before they know all of those answers.

While that debris hampered Fromm's efforts, he said he doesn't consider Wednesday's search unsuccessful and said that he has already gotten some of his stuff back.

"Someone did return some skis that we had. We got a few of our lifejackets back," Fromm said. "Anything that we can recover at this point is great because basically everything's lost and gone and without any recourse since we don't have any flood insurance. Anything we can recover is fantastic."

Fromm later got a ride in the friend's boat farther down river than the jet boat could go in an attempt to get to the house. They couldn't make it through the shallow water, either, but he said he will try again Thursday.

He said that he hopes with another day of good weather, he could put a boat in closer to where the first floor of his home apparently sits above water and perhaps salvage some of what is inside.

The Fromms, like many families who tried to get flood insurance in the Lake Delton area, couldn't. A flap over a flood plain map between the Federal Emergency Management Agency and Lake Delton village officials caused the village to pull out of the National Flood Insurance Program. The program, designed to help homeowners after floods damage their homes, has left some Lake Delton homeowners sopping wet, with little to no recourse.

"There's chance we could get some FEMA support," said Fromm. "But certainly not enough to even come close to the total amount that we lost."

For now, village officials still contend that homeowners along the lake must pay property taxes, even if the land their homes sat on is long gone. After weeks of bad news, Fromm has contacted Gov. Jim Doyle's office, and has hope.

"With the help of Gov. Doyle's team, at this point, (we're hoping) that they're going to recognize that this was a catastrophic event and they're going to take some unique measures to help us out," Fromm said.

Also unresolved are what families with mortages like the Fromms are to do. For now, they're still required to pay on their loans, for houses that make better habitats for fish than people, WISC-TV reported.

Businesses Seek To Lure Tourists To Dels

Images of the draining of Lake Delton caused many tourists to cancel reservations and vacation plans -- but Wisconsin Dells officials want people to know the Dells is open for business.

Starting July 3, Marcus Corp. will start pre-show advertising at its 45 movie theatres in Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota and Iowa aimed at showing the Dells businesses are still welcoming visitors.