Flooding Minimal Throughout Village, Says Highway Department

**Update 2 p.m. April 18

Racine County remains under a flood watch through Friday morning, and Racine County Executive Jim Ladwig Thursday declared a state of emergency.

In Caledonia, the Root River is moving fast and approaching its banks in places, but Highway Department Supervisor Blaine Pfeffer said flooding isn't an issue for the most part.

"Water always comes up over County Line Road, so that's expected, but run-off from fields and water in ditches are starting to clear up," he said. "It's looking good."

More, Pfeffer said stormwater improvements made over the last few years are working as designed.

"We don't have many barricades up because the stormwater improvements are working really well," he added. "This rainfall is heavy and fast so the systems get overwhelmed, but then they straighten out."

The barricades that are in place will be removed sometime Friday morning, Pfeffer said.

While the county has a comprehensive flood plan, the rainfall totals from last week could get met again this week, but in a much shorter period of time. That much rain creates the potential for flooding both along rivers and in urban settings.

“Racine County has an extensive flood plain management program in place. Areas experiencing flooding, in general, are parks, fields, and open spaces," said Racine County Executive Jim Ladwig in a written release. "We do not typically see the type of flooding encountered in other parts of Southeastern Wisconsin.”

Racine County officials reached out to every municipality so they could order sandbags, but Caledonia did not place an order. Pfeffer said the village doesn't have the money for that beyond what his department might use as part of its normal flood watch duties.

City of Burlington                    

10,000

Town of Dover           

200

Town of Waterford                

6000

Village of Rochester              

150

Village of Union Grove           

100

Village of Mt. Pleasant

250

Village of Waterford               

4000

Village of Norway                  

1000

                       TOTAL

21,700

Other municipalities are monitoring the situation and report they have adequate supplies on hand at this time, Ladwig added.

The rising Root River is causing problems on the northern end of Caledonia, with a section of County Line Road closed.