WATERFORD, Wis. — Residents along Fox River Road in Waterford are scrambling to protect their homes and property as floodwaters rise following a week of severe weather that also brought tornadoes to southeastern Wisconsin.
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For homeowner Sam Iverson, the past few days have been devastating. Iverson said he bought his home in December and just last week finished a major landscaping project — complete with heavy equipment, fresh topsoil and hundreds of pounds of grass seed. All of it was washed away in the flooding.
“It’s frustrating,” Iverson said. “You just gotta keep doing what you’re doing and trying to stay above water — literally.”
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In addition to the loss of his backyard work, floodwaters have filled his two garages, damaging fishing and hunting equipment as well as construction materials stored inside. His home’s crawl space now has nearly eight inches of water.
Neighbors are relying on sandbags and pumps to hold back the surging Fox River, which Iverson said advanced “exponentially” over the weekend. Some houses along the stretch were already breached by water Friday and Saturday.
Iverson has been helping flood victims in nearby Big Bend — where he says conditions are even worse — before turning attention to his own property.
Watch: Homeowners battle rising floodwaters along Fox River in Waterford area
Town officials in Waterford, Norway and Big Bend have set up free sand and bag pickup locations, including across from Bobberz, a local restaurant and bar on Fox River Road. Residents have been filling bags and constructing makeshift barriers in a coordinated, all-hands-on-deck effort.
Iverson said he is grateful the water appears to have stopped rising for now, but he remains wary with more rain in the forecast. “We might be standing [watch] at midnight like we have all weekend,” he said. “You don’t know. You just keep an eye on it.”
Until the river recedes, Iverson’s focus — along with his neighbors — is on keeping the waterline from creeping inside. “We’ll help each other all clean it back up,” he said. “That’s Wisconsin.”
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Oureditorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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