ROCK SPRINGS, Wis. -- The rain much of the Madison area received last Tuesday can't compare to the rain that the Sauk County village of Rock Springs saw early last summer.

A year later, the fact remains that in many ways, residents of Rock Springs are still drying out.

The village, located along the Baraboo River, has flooded several times over the years, so much so that many residents had long since learned to work around it.

But the summer of 2008 challenged even the most resilient of souls.

"We're slowly coming back," said Deanna Ploof, EMS captain with the Rock Springs Fire Department. "But it's a long process."

In June 2008, Rock Springs became a village of just over 400 people literally split in two by flooding.

"It was just horrific," said Ploof. "The water came so fast, so deep, and then with the raw sewage in it and stuff. So many people lost their homes."

About the split caused by Mother Nature, Ploof said, "We actually made a joke, and that it was the east coast versus the west coast, because there was no way of getting from one side to another."

A year later, they're still getting out from under the water. Twenty-one homes and several businesses have been wiped out, resulting in the village's tax coffers drying out. The financial situation has prompted a fall fundraiser with the intent of purchasing essentials for the Rock Springs Fire Department.

"We lost about $9,000 in tax revenue," said Ploof, "and in a small village like this, it's extremely hard to come back from something like that."

About 16 months after the flooding, the recovery process is still stalled as the village is still waiting for the money required to take down the buildings that the floods so badly damaged. Buildings like Nancy Cable's home, which flooded to the ceiling of the first floor.

"It got up to the roof," said Cable. "I lost everything except for everything that was upstairs, and that was my bedroom. Anything in my bedroom, I didn't lose."

Like others, Cable is due relief funds, but she isn't sure when they'll come. Like others, while somewhat happier times have returned, a true chance to start over remains in limbo.

"Especially when it's been over a year already, you don't know what you'll do, where anything's coming from, you just don't know anymore," said Cable.

Final figures from the fundraiser are not in, but the Rock Springs Fire Department scored big this week after asking TNT Rescue in Ashippun for some door prizes. Expecting T-shirts and similar small items, the manufacturer of hydraulic rescue equipment instead donated a brand new Jaws of Life system.

Emergency workers at the Rock Springs Fire Department will receive training on the new system over the next several weeks.