OUTAGAMIE COUNTY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – As Outagamie County and the city of Appleton struggle to stay above water after recent flooding, both have partnered with 211 United Way to gather damage reports from communities.
After severe flooding more than a week ago hit areas within especially hard, more rain impacted the Fox Valley on Saturday.
Floodwaters rushed into other areas, like Kimberly — even overtaking Angela Konkle’s husband’s vehicle.
“We got it up to high ground and got a bunch of buckets and started bailing the water out, because the water had risen so quickly that it covered the seats and went halfway up his center console,” said Konkle.
Others like Michael Vanderscheuren, just several blocks away, were hard at work Saturday making sure their basement didn’t take too much water.
“Water was coming up the basement, coming up the sewer line. We were bailing water with the kids for about four hours,” said Vanderscheuren.
As others saw even more damage, Outagamie County and the city of Appleton are encouraging residents to report any damage by dialing the 211 hotline, which will better help municipalities collect information.
“211 is a great partner for the state of Wisconsin. They have a call center, so they are able to take in, you know, a large amount of calls. They can collect the data we’re looking for without inundating both the 911 centers, or even just having to set up our own call centers locally,” said Paula Van De Leygraaf, Outagamie County’s emergency management director.
The county says cleanup kits will be provided to county residents. Kimberly had leftover kits from a previous distribution.
“It consists of brushes, gloves, cleaners and buckets to just kind of sanitize your basement if you do have any flooding damage down there,” said Greg Ulman, Kimberly’s deputy director of public works.
Beginning Tuesday, Appleton officials will be providing sand and bags to help residents prepare for future flooding.
“We’ll be sharing information about the ways to use those around houses, around spaces where if you know you’ve got water that comes in through basement window wells or egress windows, things like that. Those might be good places to put some sandbags down,” said Appleton Mayor Jake Woodford.
Residents are required to fill the provided bags and load them into their own vehicles; the city will not be able to offer assistance.
City officials recommend two individuals work together to fill the bags, as doing so can be physically demanding. Sand bags are bulky and heavy, so shovels and pick-up trucks are encouraged for self-filling.
Bags and sand will be available Tuesday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at Memorial Park, located at 1620 E Witzke Blvd. For instructions on how to properly fill and use sandbags, click here.
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