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Call it for the roll.

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Governor Tony Evers this week called

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a state of emergency due to

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storms in Wisconsin.

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More than 20 counties are under

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flood warnings and it just keeps

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storming.

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Hardest hit Milwaukee and Southeast

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Wisconsin and farther north toward

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Green Bay and into central parts

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of the state.

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Roads and highways have closed with

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sandbagging underway and

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more sopping messes in areas

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hard hit last August.

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How unusual is this string of

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wet weather and storms?

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We turn to Kurt Kotenberg,

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a meteorologist in charge with the

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National Weather Service, joining us

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from Green Bay.

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And thanks a lot for being here.

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Yeah, thank you for having me.

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So what's been happening over the

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past several days in your region?

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Um, yeah, it's just been

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one round after the other, pretty

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much everywhere across Wisconsin.

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So not only the lacrosse area in

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southwestern Wisconsin.

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They issued over 55

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severe weather warnings this week.

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The Milwaukee area is issued over 79

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severe weather points this week, so

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it's just been statewide.

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Of course, we have the terrible

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flooding up in East Central

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and Northeastern Wisconsin.

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Long story short, so far

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in the month of April, so this is

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through the 16th of April.

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This doesn't even count the severe

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weather happening Friday.

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The National Weather Service offices

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have issued 172

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severe thunderstorm warnings,

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tornado warnings, or flash flood

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warnings.

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And to put that number in

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perspective, we average about

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22 statewide

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for the entire month of the April.

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And that number that we've had

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so far halfway through April is

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more severe weather, tornado,

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severe thunderstorm, tornado warning

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and more flash flood warnings that

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we have issued in the past eight

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years combined.

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So we're just way outside the box

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of anything that we typically

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deal with here, not only April,

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Wisconsin, but almost just Wisconsin

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in general, even during the peak

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summer months.

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Why is it happening?

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Um, just, just a uniquely

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active weather pattern, um,

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it's effectively just been one,

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one very strong air blow pressure

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after the other that just gone

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across the country and it's tap into

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all this Gulf moisture and,

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um very unfortunately the atmosphere

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is just basically unleashed

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all of this moisture over Wisconsin

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over the past week.

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With the ground already saturated,

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what kind of flooding could result

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from Fridays

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and storms into this evening?

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Right.

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So, you know,

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certainly in East Central Wisconsin,

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you know, we're talking about the

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Wolf River in particular.

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They've had hundreds and hundreds of

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people evacuating across towns such

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as New London and Chi-Octon.

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So they don't need a single more

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drop of additional drop of rain.

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So the Friday event is the

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one positive.

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There's not really positive, but the

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one good thing is that this could be

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a very fast moving system.

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So once it's through here Friday

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evening, you know, it's

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probably gonna be through Wisconsin

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eight, nine o'clock, the worst of

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it.

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You know, hopefully then it should

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be quiet for at least the next five

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days.

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So that'll be a little different

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this evening one, very fast moving,

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whereas the past couple days has

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been a lot slower moving.

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But after that, the kind

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of the light at the end of the

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tunnel is that we're not expecting

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rainfall here across the state

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really for the next 5 days.

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So this goes through.

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Probably into the Thursday of next

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week.

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So hopefully that'll give us a time

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to dry off and really, um,

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start the clean up and

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reparation process across Wisconsin.

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Dry off and dry up.

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Well, that is good news.

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Kurt Cotenberg out of Green Bay.

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Thanks so much.

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Thank you very much.

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Boy, those numbers you were sharing

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about the number of weather

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alerts and storm warnings and

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stuff, that is stunning.

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It's wild.

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So this past Tuesday, the

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14th,

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statewide we issued 78

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of those severe warnings, tornado

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warnings, flash flood warnings.

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That's the fifth most active day

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in state history period

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for us issuing warnings.

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So that includes June, July, May,

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like the fifth, most active they

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happened here in the middle of

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April.

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And then yeah, the flooding,

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especially the Wolf River in

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Chiactan in New London, those are

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record highs.

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So going back to 1922

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was the previous record.

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So in any of our lifetimes, we

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have not seen this type

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of flooding across East Central

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Wisconsin.

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And I was working with someone

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or talking with one of the emergency

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managers there.

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And they said that

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the Wolf River is so high.

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There's lots of sturgeon in the Wolf

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river that there's

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actually sturgeon and people's

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front yards.

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And so we're going to have to

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coordinate with the DNR once this is

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all done and the water starts

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receding, like there's going to be

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sturgeon that needs to be netted out

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of people's front yards,

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like, you know, just unprecedented

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things in any of our lifetimes.

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So yeah, just

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terrible, terrible flooding and

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terrible weather here across

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Wisconsin.

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And then again, just very, very much

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looking forward to this upcoming

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week with it stopping

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and being dry, finally.

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On the Wolf River,

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do you know what its current

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flood stage is

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or where it's at?

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Yeah, so it's a major

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flood stage at

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New London and Chi-Octon.

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And this is record.

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It's over, over 19 feet.

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So both of those locations have

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set record heights.

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Again, this is going back to the

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1900s. So in any of our lifetimes.

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You seem a little shocked,

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frankly.

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I'm sorry, go ahead, what?

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I was gonna say, um,

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you for for mercy management

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response community.

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But I say that,

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you know, that

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Um, and so, you know, what they're

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considering doing is, you know,

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the, the people who recommend they

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evacuate, um, you know going to

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their house, to their houses.

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And if they, if they choose to,

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to stay it out, um some

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sort of documentation so that they

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can notify next of kin, um

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you know with the response level,

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should that be needed?

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So, I mean, when you're talking

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about things like that, like it's

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just very, very sombering.

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Sad to hear that that's

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even a sentence that is being said.

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And is that what's happening?

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Are those kind of

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signatories being needed?

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Do you know how many people have

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been evacuated from

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various locales?

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Um, that number I believe

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is literally going up Friday,

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Friday morning.

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Um, as of Thursday, it

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was close to 2000.

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And I believe that it

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is exceeded 2000 as

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a Friday morning.

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And again, we'll see what happens

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with the Friday.

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Once the Friday evening,

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severe weather and heavy rain

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has done what that number turns

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to on Saturday.

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And is that in the New London,

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Chiactan area?

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Primarily,

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I know there's other locations

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across the state.

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You know, like I know the Milwaukee

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area, like the Brown Deer, you know,

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people are reporting sewage,

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trying to get into their basements

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in some locations.

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You know, Jefferson County,

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we have people sandbagging along the

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Rock River.

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And I think to a note,

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given all this terribly

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hazardous weather and all the very

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unfortunate things happening,

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so far as of Thursday,

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any fatality is bad.

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But there's only been one fatality

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so far with all of the

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active weather across this week.

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And that was a lightning strike

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in the Waukesha area

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Bye bye.

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Wednesday because I'm walking across

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Yeah, because for people like you,

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monitoring this and

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putting out the warnings and seeing

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what's happening and seeing what's

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coming, how frightening

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is that?

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Yeah, I mean, this is to

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be on, you know, this side of it,

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too, like we're humans.

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And literally on Tuesday,

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my neighborhood, um, we,

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we had a shelter in place for our,

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my neighborhood where I live because

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we could not get into the

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neighborhood. Uh, there's two ways

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in and out. And both of those ways

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have floodwaters blocking it.

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So like, you, this, this

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hits, hits home pretty hard.

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Um, but then the damage surveys we

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do as well.

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Um, so after the

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tornado by union

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Center on Tuesday, the

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National Weather Service in La

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Crosse went out Wednesday morning

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and damage the damage survey and

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you know, seeing the homes and the

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damage. These are our fellow

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Wisconsinites and you

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just seeing some people

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like they've lost everything.

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And so it's it weighs on

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us a lot too.

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It also helps motivate us to

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really you know this is why we

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do this is to try to help

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help keep these people safe and

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protected the best that we can.

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And then just seeing the impacts on

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the community, you know, just, just

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reaffirmed that what we're doing is

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important and we're,

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we're operating 24 seven, three

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65.

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So, you whatever we can do to help

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people stay safe.

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Weather wise is what we

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are doing around the clock.

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Well, thank you.

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Thank you for that work, because

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everyone hangs on it,

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for sure.

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All right, Kurt, thanks a lot, and

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may you get a little respite

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next week.

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Thank you.

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All right. Take care.

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Okay, bye.