Chippewa Falls began cleanup from minor flooding and storm damage Monday, after Father’s Day weekend storms wreaked havoc on northern Wisconsin.
Minor flooding has crept its way into Riverfront Park, while the Chippewa River exhales after a weekend where its river stage jumped from just under five feet on Friday to 16 feet as of Monday afternoon.
Craig Schmidt, service hydrologist with the National Weather Service out of Chanhassen, Minn., said a break from the rain within the next week is expected, and the river should also subside slightly by then.
The river way remains unsafe for the public to enter, he warned, despite any level of expertise.
“At this point I would stay away from it. I wouldn’t be putting a boat out there or looking to swim,” Schmidt said. “I would just say don’t… (It’s) just flowing too fast and too dangerous.”
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Minor flooding can also be anticipated at the Durand and Eau Claire passes of the Chippewa River, Schmidt said, with the most damage anticipated to be overrun parks and trails, with small basement flooding in nearby businesses.
Weekend storms prompted 24 calls to Chippewa County’s dispatch center for related issues, including downed trees and power lines and water over roadways.
Dick Hebert, Chippewa Falls’ Parks, Recreation and Forestry director, and Bill McElroy, the city’s assistant engineer, did not anticipate any delays in phase two of construction at Riverfront Park.
The steel installation on the park’s stage was complete by Friday, McElroy said, and while workers will have to hold off on installing the stage’s flooring and doing masonry work until the water subsides, Hebert said, additional work on the park’s restrooms and the fountain can be done in the meantime.
McElroy and Hebert cautioned against the public entering the flooded waterway and park as well. Hebert added that there has been some issues with residents trying to cross through flooded zones at the park.
“The riverfront is flooding, so people need to stay out of the water,” Hebert said. “They can go see it but don’t go into the water.”
Construction on State Street was not impacted by this last round of storm’s, McElroy added, as work on the street just began on Friday with tree clearing.
In the storms that produced the river’s swelling, Irvine and Casper Park saw tree branches knocked down due to high winds, Hebert said.
Casper Park saw the brunt of the damage, Hebert added, as soccer goals, trees and fencing were knocked over.
No damage was done to the Erickson Park site, which began construction this spring.
In other Erickson Park news, the stone from a meat locker at the park’s site cannot be used as previously hoped, according to minutes from a park board meeting. The city will have to purchase stone for pillars in the park’s shelter, Hebert said, and will have it match limestone used in Irvine Park.
Northern Wisconsin, Michigan flash floods cause concern, one death
While Chippewa County’s portion of the Chippewa River remains mildly flooded, its heavy current is the result of a gradual rise, Schmidt said.
The area remains within the minor to moderate flood zones as water creeps into parks and possibly over roadways and into basements. Major flood stage, Schmidt said, occurs when water infiltrates major highways and multiple homes and businesses.
In the northern-most parts of Wisconsin, waterways and residents experienced flash flooding, as torrential rains — as much as 15 inches in parts of northern Wisconsin, the Associated Press reported — created disasters for northern Midwesterners.
A 75-year-old man was found dead 60 feet from his truck in a ditch in White River, according to the Ashland County Sheriff’s Office. His death appears to be flood related.
Northwestern Wisconsin and regions in Minnesota remain under a flood warning until Thursday, while Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder’s office declared a state of emergency for Houghton and Menominee counties in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.