It’s like the New Orleans disaster, just farther north.  In Columbia County, Wisconsin, where the town of Portage meets the Wisconsin River, officials are urging everyone in certain areas to flee to higher ground or leave entirely.  Thanks to heavy rains driving the Wisconsin River some 3.5 feet above flood stage, a 120-year-old sand levee is threatening to fail completely, cutting off or flooding some 100 homes and disrupting travel and evacuation routes.

Unlike the New Orleans levee system, the levee in Portage was constructed in the late 1800’s by local residents using local materials.  In this case, the levee was built with mostly sand.  Hence the inevitable complete failure of the levee due to the serious amounts of rainfall the area has been battered with, up to a foot of water in some places.  In spite of the best efforts of Wisconsin’s Department of Natural Resources, the situation is looking grim for the levee.  “This is one problem we have not been able to contain and, it’s getting worse,” said spokesman Greg Matthews.  “This is a 120-year-old relic.  “It’s made of sand. … A modern levee that our engineers would be familiar with would be constructed of steel and concrete.”

Tags: Portage, Wisconsin, Columbia County, Wisconsin River, 120-year-old sand levee breaks in Wisconsin, Wisconsin flooding, floods, levee fails in Wisconsin, natural disasters, flash flooding, inclement weather, Greg Matthews, Wisconson Department of Natural Resources

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