Call it for the roll.
Governor Tony Evers this week called
a state of emergency due to
storms in Wisconsin.
More than 20 counties are under
flood warnings and it just keeps
storming.
Hardest hit Milwaukee and Southeast
Wisconsin and farther north toward
Green Bay and into central parts
of the state.
Roads and highways have closed with
sandbagging underway and
more sopping messes in areas
hard hit last August.
How unusual is this string of
wet weather and storms?
We turn to Kurt Kotenberg,
a meteorologist in charge with the
National Weather Service, joining us
from Green Bay.
And thanks a lot for being here.
Yeah, thank you for having me.
So what's been happening over the
past several days in your region?
Um, yeah, it's just been
one round after the other, pretty
much everywhere across Wisconsin.
So not only the lacrosse area in
southwestern Wisconsin.
They issued over 55
severe weather warnings this week.
The Milwaukee area is issued over 79
severe weather points this week, so
it's just been statewide.
Of course, we have the terrible
flooding up in East Central
and Northeastern Wisconsin.
Long story short, so far
in the month of April, so this is
through the 16th of April.
This doesn't even count the severe
weather happening Friday.
The National Weather Service offices
have issued 172
severe thunderstorm warnings,
tornado warnings, or flash flood
warnings.
And to put that number in
perspective, we average about
22 statewide
for the entire month of the April.
And that number that we've had
so far halfway through April is
more severe weather, tornado,
severe thunderstorm, tornado warning
and more flash flood warnings that
we have issued in the past eight
years combined.
So we're just way outside the box
of anything that we typically
deal with here, not only April,
Wisconsin, but almost just Wisconsin
in general, even during the peak
summer months.
Why is it happening?
Um, just, just a uniquely
active weather pattern, um,
it's effectively just been one,
one very strong air blow pressure
after the other that just gone
across the country and it's tap into
all this Gulf moisture and,
um very unfortunately the atmosphere
is just basically unleashed
all of this moisture over Wisconsin
over the past week.
With the ground already saturated,
what kind of flooding could result
from Fridays
and storms into this evening?
Right.
So, you know,
certainly in East Central Wisconsin,
you know, we're talking about the
Wolf River in particular.
They've had hundreds and hundreds of
people evacuating across towns such
as New London and Chi-Octon.
So they don't need a single more
drop of additional drop of rain.
So the Friday event is the
one positive.
There's not really positive, but the
one good thing is that this could be
a very fast moving system.
So once it's through here Friday
evening, you know, it's
probably gonna be through Wisconsin
eight, nine o'clock, the worst of
it.
You know, hopefully then it should
be quiet for at least the next five
days.
So that'll be a little different
this evening one, very fast moving,
whereas the past couple days has
been a lot slower moving.
But after that, the kind
of the light at the end of the
tunnel is that we're not expecting
rainfall here across the state
really for the next 5 days.
So this goes through.
Probably into the Thursday of next
week.
So hopefully that'll give us a time
to dry off and really, um,
start the clean up and
reparation process across Wisconsin.
Dry off and dry up.
Well, that is good news.
Kurt Cotenberg out of Green Bay.
Thanks so much.
Thank you very much.
Boy, those numbers you were sharing
about the number of weather
alerts and storm warnings and
stuff, that is stunning.
It's wild.
So this past Tuesday, the
14th,
statewide we issued 78
of those severe warnings, tornado
warnings, flash flood warnings.
That's the fifth most active day
in state history period
for us issuing warnings.
So that includes June, July, May,
like the fifth, most active they
happened here in the middle of
April.
And then yeah, the flooding,
especially the Wolf River in
Chiactan in New London, those are
record highs.
So going back to 1922
was the previous record.
So in any of our lifetimes, we
have not seen this type
of flooding across East Central
Wisconsin.
And I was working with someone
or talking with one of the emergency
managers there.
And they said that
the Wolf River is so high.
There's lots of sturgeon in the Wolf
river that there's
actually sturgeon and people's
front yards.
And so we're going to have to
coordinate with the DNR once this is
all done and the water starts
receding, like there's going to be
sturgeon that needs to be netted out
of people's front yards,
like, you know, just unprecedented
things in any of our lifetimes.
So yeah, just
terrible, terrible flooding and
terrible weather here across
Wisconsin.
And then again, just very, very much
looking forward to this upcoming
week with it stopping
and being dry, finally.
On the Wolf River,
do you know what its current
flood stage is
or where it's at?
Yeah, so it's a major
flood stage at
New London and Chi-Octon.
And this is record.
It's over, over 19 feet.
So both of those locations have
set record heights.
Again, this is going back to the
1900s. So in any of our lifetimes.
You seem a little shocked,
frankly.
I'm sorry, go ahead, what?
I was gonna say, um,
you for for mercy management
response community.
But I say that,
you know, that
Um, and so, you know, what they're
considering doing is, you know,
the, the people who recommend they
evacuate, um, you know going to
their house, to their houses.
And if they, if they choose to,
to stay it out, um some
sort of documentation so that they
can notify next of kin, um
you know with the response level,
should that be needed?
So, I mean, when you're talking
about things like that, like it's
just very, very sombering.
Sad to hear that that's
even a sentence that is being said.
And is that what's happening?
Are those kind of
signatories being needed?
Do you know how many people have
been evacuated from
various locales?
Um, that number I believe
is literally going up Friday,
Friday morning.
Um, as of Thursday, it
was close to 2000.
And I believe that it
is exceeded 2000 as
a Friday morning.
And again, we'll see what happens
with the Friday.
Once the Friday evening,
severe weather and heavy rain
has done what that number turns
to on Saturday.
And is that in the New London,
Chiactan area?
Primarily,
I know there's other locations
across the state.
You know, like I know the Milwaukee
area, like the Brown Deer, you know,
people are reporting sewage,
trying to get into their basements
in some locations.
You know, Jefferson County,
we have people sandbagging along the
Rock River.
And I think to a note,
given all this terribly
hazardous weather and all the very
unfortunate things happening,
so far as of Thursday,
any fatality is bad.
But there's only been one fatality
so far with all of the
active weather across this week.
And that was a lightning strike
in the Waukesha area
Bye bye.
Wednesday because I'm walking across
Yeah, because for people like you,
monitoring this and
putting out the warnings and seeing
what's happening and seeing what's
coming, how frightening
is that?
Yeah, I mean, this is to
be on, you know, this side of it,
too, like we're humans.
And literally on Tuesday,
my neighborhood, um, we,
we had a shelter in place for our,
my neighborhood where I live because
we could not get into the
neighborhood. Uh, there's two ways
in and out. And both of those ways
have floodwaters blocking it.
So like, you, this, this
hits, hits home pretty hard.
Um, but then the damage surveys we
do as well.
Um, so after the
tornado by union
Center on Tuesday, the
National Weather Service in La
Crosse went out Wednesday morning
and damage the damage survey and
you know, seeing the homes and the
damage. These are our fellow
Wisconsinites and you
just seeing some people
like they've lost everything.
And so it's it weighs on
us a lot too.
It also helps motivate us to
really you know this is why we
do this is to try to help
help keep these people safe and
protected the best that we can.
And then just seeing the impacts on
the community, you know, just, just
reaffirmed that what we're doing is
important and we're,
we're operating 24 seven, three
65.
So, you whatever we can do to help
people stay safe.
Weather wise is what we
are doing around the clock.
Well, thank you.
Thank you for that work, because
everyone hangs on it,
for sure.
All right, Kurt, thanks a lot, and
may you get a little respite
next week.
Thank you.
All right. Take care.
Okay, bye.