Flood-Affected Spring Green Residents Must Wait For Waters To Recede
FEMA Officials To Tour Area Tuesday
Updated: 4:16 pm CDT July 8, 2008
SPRING GREEN, Wis. -- For one Sauk County community ravaged by the recent flooding, relief is on hold.
VIDEO: Watch The ReportIn Spring Green, homes are still underwater, and Federal Emergency Management Agency officials said that they can't go in and for now, there's no plan to get that water out.There are more than 200 residents in Spring Green with flood damage, including an entire neighborhood where the damage is great and residents can only wait for the water to go down, WISC-TV reported.While many area homes might look like waterfront property, the water surrounding the homes in the Prairie View subdivision is actually 4-week-old floodwaters.Residents Gene Dischler and Jim Blau were touring their flooded neighborhood on Monday and wondering when the water will go down."This is Arnie's house right here," said Blau, pointing to a neighbor's home."You just wonder what's going to happen. Our lives are all upset over this. We don't know where to go, what to do," said Dischler.A pump south of the subdivision is helping bring water levels down. It is pumping 1 million gallons of floodwater into the village's storm water system a day.While some residents are receiving financial help from FEMA, it's the future that these residents said they're concerned about."I wish we could get a quicker answer from FEMA of what's going to happen out here," said Dischler.FEMA officials said that they're monitoring the situation."We're very concerned about Spring Green,” said FEMA public information officer Ed Edahl. "But there's not much that can be done when the place is filled with water."FEMA officials said that they expect the water to recede during the next couple of weeks, and only after that, will inspectors step in.“They've got the aid that we offer to people who can't get into their houses, tell them that the water will recede sooner or later, we'll go in there and look at it but this is an unhappy situation. There's no question about it and there's not an easy way to solve it," said Edahl.So far, the only good news for these residents is that the contaminated water surrounding their homes is going down. Officials said that the waters should noticeably recede by July 18."These houses are sitting here with this kind of weather here, just mold keeps growing in them," said Dischler.Jerry Schmidt, the emergency management coordinator in the Town of Spring Green, said that a second pump will soon be added directly in the subdivision.FEMA will be touring communities that are still underwater, including Spring Green, on Tuesday.Stay tuned to WISC-TV and Channel 3000 for continuing coverage.
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