I hope no one here lost anyone. I hope no one here had property destroyed or is stranded by washed out roads.
One heck of a storm. The raw power of water is amazing.
I talked to one guy who told me a creek that is normally three foot wide is now about 300ft wide with whole trees washing down.
The dang Bibon Marsh filled up with enough water to over top 63. There's a lot of feeders into the Bibon Marsh, but that's a big area to wind up with an extra three ft of water. I think it's better than fifteen square miles.
Supposedly the Bad River water gauge recorded a fifteen ft rise in the river in less than six hours...before it was ripped away.
Hoping all is well with Steve, Jeff and others in and around those areas.
I have not been out in my woods yet to see what happened there. I am still logging huge red oaks that came down in the storm a few weeks ago. Keeps raining and too messy to use the skid steer most of the time. Ground is saturated, prime for more trees to take the fall if we get wind.
Heard of roads washed out around the area, 77 I think west of Hayward and 27 north. I heard there was a huge washout somewhere around Mellen.
Minnestoa got hit way worse. The scope of this event was huge. Covered most of Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin and probably more.
Supposedly no trucking in, out or through until all main roads are assessed. If you're low on groceries, you may want to pick up a couple days' worth.
Sounds like anyone in Ashland might want a few more.
At one site the USGS guys said the flood auto monitor quit working and they were trying to record data with portable units but with the swift current they had to go to old manual methods.
At that site the water was over the bridge and climbing. There was an active power transformer submerged nearby. You could also hear boulders clinking passing under the bridge. I stayed back off the bridge and did not go past road closed signs while there.
I pulled a camera Tuesday and water is standing in every low spot in the woods.
Many of the secondary roads did not have closed signs but were severely damaged. I saw ATVs driving some at high speeds. The ATV and bike trails have a lot of damage too.
True, there are many areas that are closed off due to washed out roads. It will take some time to fix all of this.
My wife has family who's place is near Grand View. Apparently, the fourth picture is 63 at Twenty Mile Creek...but I'm not sure.
Woods are wet, I had to bail water out of some of the bait sites but that isn't too unusual. I did not run into any roads that had any serious damage. I am thinking most of the really serious damage is north of Hayward a ways.
If anyone has a place not too far from Hayward and wants me to check out your place send me a PM with your phone number. I will do what I can.
I'm wondering how long it'll take before they'll have some of those roads put back together? Army Corps of Engineers? Visiting friends in that area might be a PITA for quite a while.
Who knows about the trucking? I just know that I don't think I'd want to test any of those water crossings in a loaded logging truck.
From what I'm hearing, it sounds like the worst of it in Wisconsin is in a trapezoid from Cable to Ashland to Saxon to Mellen. But I'm following it because of personal connections and don't have any access to direct information. I'm hoping some guys up there can post pictures and information that I can then share with my wife.
Cable to High Bridge to Saxon is pretty much a straight line. My guess is that's a good estimate of the main storm track.
Here's to hoping all is good at your place alderrub.
Jeff in MN's Link
Check out washburn county sheriff facebook page. Some interesting pics of whirlpools spinning above culverts. Also warns of townships running out of signs to close roads and mark hazards, so watch out on secondary roads.
smokey's Link
all trucking is stopped, maybe a few not knowing or just not following the order. Gov. Walker declared it disaster area.
It will take a while. sort of wondering if the Forest Service will call in a Type 3 team to help manage this. Today I was upstream near Cable looking at Namekagon River and it was down but near my house the river was WAY up.
Go to the County's emergency websites for more information. As for photos I know there is one guy on FB posting hundreds, not all his. Jon Olkonen I think it is.
#4 might be 20 Mile creek but have not seen that view before. It may have been taken from the trestle.
One of my pics from the storm but not of flood damage. Today will working on the Birkie trail I found this lighting struck white pine, thankfully it fell into the woods so I don't have to clean it up. Thankfully too it rained so it did not start a fire. Rare here but it does happen.
I'll check out the updated name. Thanks.
smokey's Link
smokey's Link
In the wake of this week’s severe storms in the western Upper Peninsula, officials at Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park posted signs today cautioning boaters about a debris field floating in Lake Superior, which was expected to reach the shoreline of the park at about 11 p.m. July 14.
Federal officials said the debris is the result of 85 boats being damaged or destroyed at the SaxonA map graphic shows the area where the debris field is expected to reach Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park. Harbor Marina following severe weather Monday, which included flooding.
The marina is located on Oronto Bay, at the mouth of the Montreal River along the Wisconsin-Michigan border, a few miles west of Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park.
“Park staff posted signs this afternoon which caution boaters intending to use Lake Superior waters along the shoreline of the park, within an area where the debris is expected to be located tonight,” said John Pepin, deputy public information officer for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. “Boaters could encounter floating safety hazards amid the debris. Some items reported earlier today included a drifting boat, a dock and woody debris.”
Material was expected to continue to drift to shore throughout the weekend.
Michigan Department of Environmental Quality officials have been notified. In addition, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration are also working on the issue.
Storm damage at the park has forced the temporary closure of sections of trail and cabins and backcountry campsites in the northwest part of the park between the Little and Big Carp rivers. The campsites and cabins are scheduled to reopen July 28.
/Note to editors: An accompanying map graphic and photo are available below for download and media use. A caption follows. Credit: Michigan Department of Natural Resources, unless otherwise noted.
Signs: Bob Wild, a park interpreter at Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park, posts a public emergency notice today cautioning boaters against a floating debris field expected to reach the park shoreline tonight.
Debris map: A map graphic shows the area where the debris field is expected to reach Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park. (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration image)/
smokey's Link
Go to the website for Chequamegon, they keep updates there almost daily. Also check out the County website for information.
I was just up there with a buddy. Some of the roads that are marked closed are actually passable, but according to a friend of mine, they are writing tickets if you don't have a local address that you are heading directly to.
Some of those roads will take a very long time before they're open though.
orionsbrother's Link
orionsbrother's Link
Interesting thing in the photo Orionsbrother posted. It has ATV tracks in it. Maybe the road was not posted but last weekend I saw road closed signs with plenty of ATV tracks going around them. I won't feel sorry if the get a ticket or get hurt. Closed means closed!
I sent an email asking if information will be updated.
The map on the Bayfield County website is current and updated most every day around 2 PM.
There were some township guys surveying roads using ATVs for access...and there were some "yahoos" riding through creeks and such. Wouldn't bother me a bit if those guys wound up with tickets.
The only tracks we left were from our boot lugs.
That map Orionsbrother posted the link for is cool, especially the pictures that you can click on.
smokey's Link
But then I might be confused. So much chainsaw work lately has me totally exhausted.
On Tuesday I finally finished cutting saw logs out of my oaks that fell over, broke at the stump, or leaned into other trees in the last 3 storms. Then carrying them out to my driveway for their trip to the mill. So I can relate to what you wrote.
Do you have equipment working with you to lift stuff off the trail or do you have to cut everything small enough to handle it by hand? That would be a PITA.
The Tomahawk flows into Jersey City Flowage which doesn't have the flood gates to remove mass amounts water into the WI River so thats being monitored closely.
The Spirit Flowage dam is busted and they cant hold water back without major repairs scheduled for next year.
The Nokomis and Rainbow Flowages also have water levels I haven't seen in 10 years. The City of Wausau had kayak tournaments which usually causes massive water level fluctuations in the Flowages-this year I couldn't notice.
Gunner, if you PM me I might look into it. I had some cams out but was finally able to get to one (no big bucks on it) the other is off a closed road yet.
GJG, its a good thing some of the water flows north or it would be worse. At one time a week back the dam on St. Croix was close to going out. Many were worried.
As if my part time job at the Birkie and cutting trees there isn't enough, Friday I am helping cut out a part of the race course for the Chequamegon Fat Tire race. At least the temps have dropped.
They are giving citations to anyone behind closed signs unless solid reason for being there.
I don't think it's possible that 63 has been put back together. I think that detour will be used in 2017.
