Wisconsin Dams Fail, Drains Manmade Lake
Monday, June 9, 2008 at 5:56PM Heavy storms in Wisconsin, have caused the failure of two dams and more are facing failure. The State has dam safety engineers, in planes assessing at least 22 other dams in danger of failing.
Lake Delton, a manmade 245 acre lake and popular tourist spot south of the Wisconsin Dells, overflowed and emptied out Monday when the earthen dams gave way and overflowed into he Wisconsin River. The overflow happened as authorities ordered evacuations and sandbagging in a number of towns across the southern portion of the state.
Gov. Jim Doyle vowed the state would work to replenish the lake and told reporters state workers hope to restore the water to the lake as soon as possible, describing the lake as crucial to the $1 billion annual tourism industry in Wisconsin Dells.
"It's horrible. There's no way we could stop it," said Thomas Diehl, a Lake Delton village trustee. "The breach is between 300 and 400 feet wide. The volume (of water) was just so great there wasn't anything anyone could do."
Bill Pettit, who has owned the Delton Oaks Resort on the lake for 12 years, said he watched the dam wash away and saw the flood water push a two-story lakefront house into the lake. It quickly disappeared under the rushing water.
Pettit looked a half mile down the lake to his resort, where the lake's water was only a trickle."We are out of busienss," he said of his 30-unit resort, which has been in operation since 1948. "We sell lakefront property but there is no more lake."He said he was calling summer vacationers to alert them that the lake is gone and that boating and fishing won't be possible.
Hopefully Bill Pettit and others in the area had a contingency plan, but like many other businesses they probably did not. We will try to find out more about him and his situation and provide an update when we can.
Video of the Homes Falling into the Lake from Fox News.
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