BURLINGTON — Residents along the Fox River are still dealing with high water from last week's storms. Many people spent Monday trying to keep up with the water even as the river began to recede.
For Burlington homeowner Cody Badger, it has been days of fighting off the Fox River, which runs next to his home.
"Once our pumps turn off, the water just keeps coming in, coming in, coming in," Badger said.
But even as he watches the river recede from his property, there is still work to be done.
"But it's still just saturating the ground, so we're still going to have so much water coming in through the foundation, unfortunately," Badger said.
Badger's crawl space was still full of water Monday. He said he was glad a neighbor had a pump handy over the weekend to prevent it from getting any higher.
Watch: Residents continue to see impacts of high water as the Fox River slowly begins to recede
"If we wouldn't have had that, we still would've had running water coming up, and we would've been toast. But luckily, we saved it just in time," Badger said.
The river spilled over into parks just north of Badger's home.
Frank Platts, who was visiting Burlington on Monday for an appointment, read his newspaper in the car next to Wehmhoff Jucker Park, as the spot he usually like to sit when visiting was underwater.
"I usually sit close to the river, but I can't sit very close to the river today," Platts said.
On the other side of the river, 11-year-old Henry Hurst spent his day helping keep his grandparents' basement dry. His grandparents were out of town, and so family members took it upon themselves to take care of the water.
"We are mainly just here to siphon out the basement with the vacuums and make sure the basement doesn't fill up with water," Hurst said.
The family hopes to keep the basement drier than when the area saw devastating flooding back in 2017. Hurst said his grandparents saw water as high as the top of their basement stairs.
"They didn't catch it in time," he said.
Hurst was only three then, making this round the highest he can remember seeing the river.
"I've seen it high, but not this high," Hurst said.
Basement cleanup kits are available for City of Burlington residents through the American Red Cross. Residents can request those kits by emailing their name and address to cityhall@burlington-wi.gov.
Residents can also email the city to report property damage and request an assessment. Residents reporting damage should also provide their phone number.
The city continues to ask residents and visitors not to drive around barricades and to avoid boating on the Fox River because of strong currents.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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