City, county administration continue to discuss high water
By Correne Martin
City of Prairie du Chien administration is continuing to meet with county and local emergency management teams, with a focus on the potential of higher than usual river levels, due to above average winter precipitation and still-frozen ground.
“We are looking at a crest of 17.7 feet,” City Administrator Chad Abram said Tuesday just after 11 a.m., “and [weather officials] are not even beginning to forecast levels after the winter snowpack melts” on the northern Mississippi River and its tributaries.
As of press time Wednesday morning, the National Weather Service of La Crosse was forecasting a peak of 17.6 feet by late Friday, and expecting it to stay around that level through next Wednesday.
At Tuesday’s “spring high water meeting”—as the stakeholders are cautiously calling the weekly meetings—Prairie du Chien Street Superintendent Dan Titlbach and Utility Director Larry Gates said they anticipated Fourth Street on St. Feriole Island to be closed by today, due to rising water.
“If the barricades are up, they’re up for a reason,” Police Chief Kyle Teynor said, reminding everyone to pass the info along to the public.
He added, “It doesn’t mean: move the barricades and drive around. The barricades are up for public safety, and it saves on ruts the street department will have to go back and fill later.”
Crawford County Emergency Management Director Jim Hackett also reiterated that sand bags are available for anyone in the county by calling 326-0266.
“There’s no cost for the sandbags, as long as people dispose of them themselves,” Hackett said.
The city personnel also discussed what happens if 19 feet or higher is reached on the Mississippi at McGregor. Gates said that’s when traffic is closed to the island, with the exception of Villa Louis staff, who would boat in at that point.
“We’ve already put sandbags on some manholes so they don’t pop off,” Gates said.
3M representatives were also at this week’s meeting, with concerns about flooding at its Frenchtown facilities. They shared the possible need for storage, as the water rises and poses more of a threat to its materials there.
These meetings will continue every Tuesday as needed.
