SUAMICO, Wis. (WFRV) – “I’ve been there for 53 years, I’ve never had it like that, never seen it like that.”
Evacuations started along the Wolf River due to possible dam failure
With the water crashing alongside the rising Suamico River, Chaps Spejcher spent his Tuesday morning on a boat ride, which he wished wasn’t necessary.
“As the basement filled up with water, it tipped over the freezer and all the food went out of that,” Spejcher said.
Spejcher said it was an early wake-up call to the sight of water filling the driveway until it broke through his basement windows into an unfinished space, forcing him to call for help.
“It just kept coming up and coming up, so I called Suamico Fire,” Spejcher said.
Spejcher’s neighbor, Karen Robinson, was left untouched, fortunately, but if it had been even a foot higher, she’d likely have been in the same boat, left wondering what to do next.
“My brother told me we should go get sandbags, but my husband said not to leave the house,” Robinson said.
Suamico Public Works may have to wait a while until levels recede before beginning what could be a month-long project to fix Riverside Drive after it washed away from heavy rains.
Authorities across northeast Wisconsin share one common message amid ongoing flooding
“Everything is closed off and [we’re] not letting anybody get close to these areas,” Director Andy Smits said. “It’s going to be closed for a while, probably several weeks to a month, until we can get down in there and figure out what we need to do to reconstruct this roadway.”
The Village of Suamico has since declared a disaster declaration to help with the cleanup in the aftermath of the flooding.
