AFTON — Rock County officials are bracing for several days of moderate flooding in parts of the county as the Rock River is predicted to rise to 11 feet at Afton by late this week — and remain pegged above 11 feet for days.
“It will have a long tail. It’s going to stay up for a while, and it’s not going to go down very quickly, and that’s because all of the storms we’ve had in the region,” Rock County Clerk Lisa Tollefson said.
Tollefson was handling communications on Monday as part of the county’s Emergency Management team.
The team has been mobilized since Friday night when storms hit and dropped a deluge of rains heavy enough to send 3 feet to 4 feet of water coursing through neighborhood streets throughout Janesville, swamping cars, houses and countless commercial properties.
Prior to Friday’s rains, the county already had been preparing for the threat of flooding. The Rock River had reached 9 feet at Afton prior to Friday, with predictions the river could hit 11 feet or higher later this week.
Before Friday’s rains, the county already had already mobilized self-serve sandbagging stations in Newville and the town of Rock — two areas with low-slung land that is prone to flooding when the river hits 10 feet or higher at Afton.
As of Sunday, the county has deployed emergency sandbagging efforts and began recruiting volunteers to fill bags at several sandbagging stations throughout Rock County. That was after floodwaters spiked at 12.3 feet at Afton following Friday night’s localized deluge.
Chris Rolander worked alongside some uniformed helpers — U.S. National Guard troops who’d deployed Monday — to sandbag his home on Afton’s Bass Creek Road.
Floodwaters were from the creek, a Rock River tributary, were just 25 feet from the garage of his home after the creek rose about 100 feet past its banks over the weekend.
Rolander said it’s the first time he’s had to sandbag to prevent Bass Creek from swamping his home. He surveyed the scene around his home as about two dozen National Guard members trundled sandbags in a long line between his home and the floodwaters beyond.
“Very, very thankful for this,” Rolander said.
The river dropped to around 10 feet since the spike Saturday, but the rainfall that hit Friday extended north to Horicon, dropping several inches of rain on the entire Rock River watershed at once.
All that water is now working its way through the watershed. The National Weather Service expects the river to hit a crest of 11 feet at Afton — moderate flooding — by Friday, and the weather service predicts river levels are expected to remain locked at at least 11 feet through at least Sunday.
Extended forecasts call for more local rain Friday and Sunday, although it’s not clear how widespread the rain would be or whether it could add to the flooding already expected.
At 11 feet, a road in Riverside Park and part of the park on Janesville’s north and west side becomes inundated with water. South River Road on the south side of Janesville also gets submerged in parts, and a home on South Christian Road on the east side of the river in Afton becomes surrounded by water.
That’s alongside extensive lowland and agricultural land flooding in and around the Afton and Janesville areas.
If the river goes above 11 feet at Afton, it will bring flooding to Traxler Park in Janesville, and it will flood numerous secondary roads in Afton.
By Friday, water levels at Afton could rank within the top 17 for recorded floods based on a historical record of river gauge height readings.
But predictions show flooding will be nowhere near all-time record levels seen in 2008, when the Rock River hit 13.5 feet at Afton.
Tollefson said the county needs volunteers to to help fill sandbags at stations including:
- Newville Park and Ride off Highway 59 and Interstate 90/39.
- Fulton Town Hall at 2738 W. Fulton Center Drive.
- Rock Town Hall at 5102 S. County Road D.
- The the 4-Mile boat launch at 4033 N. River Road, Janesville.
{p class=”p2”}Flood cleanup kits remain available at the Salvation Army’s Janesville location at 514 Sutherland Ave.
{p class=”p2”}If you’re in a flooded area and have a well, the county recommends you do not drink well water until floodwaters recede and you’ve gotten the well tested.
{p class=”p2”}Bottled water is available at the Orfordville Fire Department, 173 N. Wright St., Orfordville., and Lakeside Fire Department’s Milton station at 614 W. Madison Ave., Milton.
{p class=”p2”}Well testing kits for those affected by flooding, well test kits are available at Orfordville Fire Department, Milton Town Hall, 23 First St., Miton, and the Rock County Public Health office at 3328 N. Highway 51, Janesville.
{p class=”p2”}People with flood damage are asked to report it to 211, which will help the county continue to take inventory of the scope and impacts of flooding.
