There is no reason for visitors to get cold feet over the possibility of wet feet when they visit Wisconsin this year.
Last summer’s flood is gone if not forgotten, and even at Villa Louis mansion in Prairie du Chien, which escaped damage by dint of its location on top of an Indian mound, the 4 feet of water that flooded the grounds has long since disappeared and the complete facility is open for business.
“In late June last year at the height of the flood we had to come to work by boat, but by July 11 the water was gone and we had reopened,” Mike Douglas, site superintendent at Villa Louis, said recently as he glanced out at early spring visitors from his office in the elevated interpretive center.
And unless there is abnormally high rainfall, tourists will find all Wisconsin public and private facilities ready to host them this season, says Moose Spiros, administrator of the Division of Tourism.
While there were some brief flood-related closures last summer at Villa Louis and Devil’s Lake State Park near Baraboo, it was mostly the erroneous perception of flooded facilities that kept visitors away from Wisconsin, Spiros said.
“With all of the national stories about the flood, people assumed that much of Wisconsin was under water,” Spiros said. “It was a difficult perception to correct.”
In distributing a recent $400,000 disaster relief grant to 14 southwestern counties, Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson said, “Tourism businesses in these counties lost hundreds of millions of dollars because of last summer’s flooding. This grant will help them get back on their feet.”
Attendance at Villa Louis dropped 51 percent in 1993, and was down 31 percent at Devil’s Lake State Park, which suffered the greatest flood damage when a July 17 storm cell camped over the rugged hills and unloaded 8 to 12 inches of rain. This downpour caused extensive damage to trails, roads, beaches and buildings, most of which has been repaired. Several miles east of the park in an adjacent watershed, the storm was responsible for one death when a young camper was swept away in the sudden torrent of water.
Park Superintendent Tim Miller said, “All of our campsites and beaches will be ready by the Memorial Day weekend, and most roads and hiking trails, with the exception of the East Bluff Woods trail, will also be ready.”
Because of extensive flood damage, bike trails within the park are temporarily closed as is the nearby Parfrey’s Glen Natural Area.
The perception of long-term flooding at tourist sites last year was especially vexing for Fred LaPointe, manager of the Prairie du Chien Chamber of Commerce.
“People who called would not believe that the bridge (across the Mississippi) was open even though we were looking out the window at normal bridge traffic as we talked to them,” LaPointe said.
“The bridge at Prairie du Chien was not closed or even threatened,” LaPointe said, adding that the “Main Street” that was partially closed is a street along the Mississippi River and is not where the business section is located.
It was only St. Feriole Island where Villa Louis is located that was closed to visitors, LaPointe said. The island was once the site of several hundred homes, but they have been moved off and torn down because of the frequent flooding, and now only Villa Louis and several industrial businesses occupy the low-lying land.
Villa Louis, a rare Victorian-style mansion containing much of its original furnishings, was built in the 1870s by Hercules Dousman who became Wisconsin’s first millionaire through fur trading. It is operated by the State Historical Society and offers either guided or self conducted tours daily from May through October.
South of Prairie du Chien, a pair of historic sites-Stonefield Village and Nelson Dewey State Park-near Cassville were on high ground and were not threatened by the flood.
“Our village park along the river was closed for a time,” village spokeswoman Mona Hudson said, “and the ferry service was suspended because of high water.”
One of the few such facilities across the Mississippi, the ferry at Cassville takes vehicles ($5 per car) and passengers over to a rural landing in Iowa. It operates on weekends (Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays) in May through Memorial Day; 9 a.m.-9 p.m. daily Memorial Day through Labor Day; weekends through Oct. 31. However, it’s best to call 608-725-5180 to check on weather-permitting conditions before planning to travel on the ferry.
“There was a ferry here way back in 1836 when Nelson Dewey was the state’s first governor,” Hudson said, “and we think it is pretty neat that we still have one.”
Wisconsin also offers a free ferry across the Wisconsin River at Merrimac (just south of Baraboo). Unaffected by high water, it is operated around the clock by the Sauk County Highway Department and carries Highway 113 traffic across the river just below Lake Wisconsin.
Bob Fasick, regional maintenance manager with the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, said that all Wisconsin roads are in good condition and visitors should experience delays only from the normal construction projects.
“The worst highway flood damage last year was between Baraboo and Devil’s Lake State Park where about 1 mile of Highway 113 was washed out,” Fasick said.
This has been repaired, he said, and a finished surface will be in place by the time the tourist season opens next month.
In a flood-related incident last June 20, the Interstate 94 bridge at Black River Falls was closed for several hours when it was feared that an impoundment on the Black River at Hatfield, northeast of La Crosse, might be breached.
“It was simply a safety precaution,” Fasick said, “since we didn’t want traffic on the bridge in case something happened. The impoundment has been secured and there is no threat to traffic now.”
Any culvert or road washouts on rural roads have been repaired by now, Fasick said, as have all repairs on state roads. There was a 15-mile stretch of Wisconsin Highway 35-The Great River Road, between Prairie du Chien and Lynxville where heavy rain washed debris off the steep hills and cliffs and out onto the roadway.
“The rocks and dirt and trees were removed,” Fasick said, “and then we went up on the steeper slopes to remove material that we thought was a threat.”
Surface water levels in Wisconsin are normal, according to Ken Bradbury, hydro-geologist with the Wisconsin Geologic and Natural History Survey.
“We are not in a situation where normal rainfall will cause flooding,” Bradbury said.
Rainfall in most of Wisconsin has been below average this year, said Pam Knox, state climatologist with the University of Wisconsin Extension.
“In fact, even last year the northern one-third of Wisconsin had below-average rainfall,” Knox said.
In the remainder of the state, however, a wet spring set up conditions for the summer flooding.
“There are some projections for a dry summer,” Knox said, “considering the conditions of such things as the El Nino ocean current and volcanic particles in the atmosphere.”
“But you never know,” Knox said, “and tourists should check to determine what normal weather conditions are at their destinations and they should also be prepared for the extremes.”
Knox added that she carries an umbrella every day.
“There is a lot of weather information available,” Knox said, “on the TV weather channel, in newspapers, on electronic bulletin boards, and from the weather service, which makes 30- and 90-day projections. Some of these projections may turn out to be inaccurate, but they are based on the best knowledge available.”
There is, of course, no way to predict the kind of weather phenomena that caused the disaster in the Baraboo-Devil’s Lake area.
“This was a one-in-a-thousand-years occurrence,” Knox said. “It was an air mass of warm moisture that moved in ahead of a low-pressure area and it is not clear why it dumped so much rain on Devil’s Lake.
“There is some thought that the rock bluffs were a factor, causing wind to move upward and trigger the rain.”
In urging vacationers to stay informed, Knox said, “The Boy Scout motto `Be Prepared’ is good advice. Campers should be familiar with escape routes before they are needed, and motorists should not drive over roads that are covered with water.
“And, of course, everyone should follow the rules of protecting themselves from tornadoes and lightning.”
Knox suggests carrying a radio tuned to a weather channel that gives constant updates and severe-weather warnings.
Since Wisconsin tourism suffered more by the erroneous perception of flooding than by actual flooding, various efforts are being made to convince potential visitors that they can enjoy the state without wearing hip boots or water wings. Doug Fox, executive director of the La Crosse Convention and Visitors Bureau, said that a 53-foot houseboat will travel 1,700 miles up and down the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers later this summer to promote the fact that recreational facilities along the rivers, especially in Wisconsin, are back in business.
“The high water last year curtailed some boating activity and closed a few campgrounds,” Fox said, “but everything is up and running this year and we want people to know that.”
Wisconsin communities along the river suffered from the news reports last year that showed downstream devastation and reported that the river was flooded from Minneapolis to St. Louis, Fox said.
“We had calls wanting to know if the interstate bridges were safe,” Fox said, “and of course they were, as were all the other bridges across the river.”
“We want people to get the kind of information that keeps them out of trouble,” Spiros said, “and if there is a safety reason to keep people out of an area, we will get that word out.
“But many people were needlessly scared away last year, and decided to go someplace else. I think that is very temporary. Wisconsin has so much to offer all kinds of visitors that when we tell them it is safe to come here and all facilities are open, they will be back.”
And Spiros echoes the sentiment of climatologist Knox: “Wisconsin’s weather is a great mix and it WILL rain on your parade at some point, so be prepared.”
You will not, however, need hip boots or waders unless, of course, you plan to enjoy one of Wisconsin’s trout streams, which are running at normal levels.
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For free Wisconsin travel information and an events calendar, call 800-432-8747; for reports of detours and road conditions call 800 ROAD-WIS; for weather reports call Green Bay, 414-494-2363; La Crosse, 608-784-1930; Madison, 608-249-6645; and Milwaukee, 414-744-8000.
