(Published Tuesday, August 28, 2007 12:14:36 PM CST)
A d v e r t i s e m e n t
Gazette Staff and Associated Press
Lightning killed a man in Madison and more evacuations were ordered in southwestern Wisconsin as up to 3.5 inches of rain drenched the area Monday.
The latest round of storms moved through Wisconsin and into other Midwestern states as Federal Emergency Management Agency teams began their damage assessment in Racine, Kenosha and Jefferson counties.
FEMA officials also will visit Rock County today to assess individual claims and decide whether to declare the county a disaster area. The county received about 70 claims from homes, municipalities and one small business totaling $639,000 as of 1:30 p.m. Monday, said Shirley Connors, Rock County Emergency Management coordinator.
The assessments will start in the Evansville area, which was hit hardest by this month's rains, Connors said. The county also received claims from three municipalities: the village of Footville, the city of Edgerton and Rock County Department of Public Works.
If FEMA declares the county a disaster area, people who filed claims will be eligible for federal grants and low-interest loans, Connors said.
President Bush declared five counties in southwestern Wisconsin disaster areas Sunday after floods last week left an estimated $47 million in damage and recovery costs.
Those counties got more rain Monday. National Weather Service meteorologist Jeff Boyne said Five Points in Richland County received up to 3½ inches; Soldiers Grove in Crawford County got 2.9 inches; Prairie du Chien, also in Crawford County, received 1.7 inches; and La Crosse got just under an inch.
The weather service canceled a flash-flood warning for Vernon County after revising its forecast for Monday night to just a slight chance of showers overnight, Boyne said. But an evacuation order for people living below four dams there remained in effect, county officials said late Monday afternoon.
The next chance for heavy showers-at least an inch of rain-in southwest Wisconsin comes Tuesday afternoon and into the evening before several days of drier weather are expected, Boyne said.
To the east, a 75-year-old man died after being struck by lightning while playing golf at a city-owned course in Madison, police spokesman Mike Hanson said. Authorities said the man, Francis Adams of Madison, sought shelter from the rain under a wet pine tree as a thunderstorm passed through the area.
It was the second deadly incident involving lightning in Madison in one week. Three people boarding a city bus Wednesday were electrocuted when lightning struck a utility pole and dropped a live wire into standing water.
A FEMA team assessing flood damage in Racine County stopped at the Burlington home of Jeremy Knopow, 30. He took off work Monday to try to make headway on his flooded basement.
Knopow doesn't live on a flood plain. His home sits on high ground about one-third of a mile from the White River. The water table rose 5 feet in his neighborhood Thursday night, and 6 inches of water remained in his basement Monday.
Carpet, cut-up furniture and other water-logged belongings Knopow pulled from his basement sat in the driveway of the home he and his wife bought 2½ years ago.
His homeowner's insurance won't cover his belongings or the estimated $10,000 in structural damage to his home, he said. He was waiting to see what federal aid would be available.
"If homeowner's doesn't cover it, and that (federal aid) doesn't cover it, we're just screwed," Knopow said.
FEMA agent Gary Erickson said the state could issue a disaster declaration for the area by the end of the week. That would come before a federal declaration, which would free up grants, low-interest loans and other help for victims, he said.
Linda Nederlo, a spokeswoman for Vernon County Emergency Management, said about 80 people living below the earthen Runge Hallow, Hidden Valley, Yettri-Primmer and Seas Branch dams were told to evacuate Monday even though the flash-flood watch was lifted.
A week ago, the same dams filled when torrential rains of up to 12 inches caused flooding. All the dams held, but overflow at the Hidden Valley dam caused some erosion.
Nederlo said small streams in the area rose quickly from Monday's rains and more rain was possible again Tuesday so evacuations were ordered as a precaution.
On the Web
» National Weather Service, Milwaukee (Sullivan): www.crh.noaa.gov/mkx
