Lake Delton - 2008 Washout

2008 Washout

On the morning of June 9, 2008, a 400-foot (120 m) portion of County Highway A that traverses the north side of Lake Delton failed, creating a new drainage channel to the Wisconsin River. At 2 am that day, 12 inches (300 mm) of rain caused one hundred residents to start sandbagging. The lake waters overflowed County Highway A about a quarter mile from the dam, and most of the lake emptied in two hours. The water began overflowing at approximately 10 am. As the water overtopped the isthmus, it flowed downhill to the Wisconsin River approximately 800 feet (240 m) away, quickly eroding and creating a 400-foot (120 m) wide channel that rapidly drained the lake in an out-of-control torrent into the river, 40-foot (12 m) below the lake's level. Three homes washed away, and another two were destroyed when their foundations were undermined by the new outflow. The sediments at the bottom of the lake were visible. "We have nothing but mud in front of us now," said Tom Diehl, operator of the Tommy Bartlett Show and a Lake Delton village trustee. "No water. Just mud."

Wisconsin governor Jim Doyle announced on June 10 that the state would repair the lake. He described the lake as crucial to the billion-dollar Wisconsin Dells tourism area. Engineers with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) are studying the lake, and Doyle said it will only take about two weeks for water from the river to refill the 267-acre (108 ha) lake. It is unknown, however, how long it will take to divert and correct the river's current path back into the lake. Dell Creek is still flowing down to the Wisconsin River, and the lake would be refilled from the creek, once the breach in the highway and collaterally damaged areas are repaired.

Russ Rasmussen, director of watershed management for the DNR, said restoring Lake Delton will be more involved than simply filling in the new channel. "Whatever goes in there will have to be built to dam standards," he added.

Two of the owners whose homes were washed away at the point of the breach were unable to purchase flood insurance. They said that the city told them it was unnecessary, because the lake was dam-controlled. WISC-TV reported that the village had lost its eligibility for Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA's) National Flood Insurance Program after the village failed to formally adopt an updated floodplain map called a "Flood Insurance Rate Map" (the official map of a community on which FEMA has delineated both the special hazard areas and the risk premium zones applicable to the community). The village engineer and clerk said the map was not adopted because of "gross inaccuracies" in how FEMA had expanded the floodplain.

In an effort to make some good from the situation, local residents organized a "clean the lake bottom" campaign in which interested volunteers walked the empty lakebed before the lake's refilling in order to remove refuse that has collected there. On June 14, 2008, about 250 volunteers, including many who don't live in the area, filled four 20-cubic-yard (15 m3) dumpsters with refuse.

Illusionists Rick and Suzan Wilcox staged a show on June 22, 2008, to benefit families who lost their homes in the Lake Delton flood. In addition, visitors to Noah's Ark Waterpark on June 21, 2008, helped the victims of Lake Delton with the price of admission. The water park donated $2 from every ticket sold on that date to the Lake Delton Flood Relief Fund.