SALEM LAKES, Wis. — After the Fox River rose above flood stage and swallowed roads in Salem Lakes, residents say the improvements being made give them some hope — but the worry of it happening again never fully goes away.
WATCH: Salem Lakes residents still watching the water after Fox River floods
The flooding last August caused roads to be closed down, and again this past April, flooding impacted Salem Lakes residents.
Bruce Ruiz, who lives along the river, said preparation has become a way of life.
"You're prepared all year long basically," Ruiz said. "I was able to put all my mowers, my truck, all my important items at the neighbors until the flood goes down. After the flood — all the way to the street — this was all mud for like weeks."
Neighbor Patrick Houston says for families living this close to the water, options when flooding hits are limited.
"Sandbagging is the only preparation you can take," Houston said. "If you know it's gonna rain and it's gonna be heavy rain, this is all you could really do. If you live along the river there's really nothing else you can do — or move to a relative's for a while and hope for the best."
Salem Lakes Village Administrator Mike Kostiuk says the village has been working to address the damage and vulnerabilities exposed by flooding — replacing culverts and repairing roads hit hardest by the rising water.
"We replaced several culverts — the drainage issues in a lot of the areas of an aging village," Kostiuk said. "We also noticed there are a lot of low-lying parts of the village where people experience really serious flooding on their properties and we've been working hard to alleviate those concerns as well."
Kostiuk says the village has identified its most critical culverts and is now building a five year replacement schedule — adding that while infrastructure improvements will help, one thing remains out of the village's control.
"You can't unfortunately stop the river from rising," he said. "But fixing that is going to improve the water flowing in the event of a flood and we're gonna see that at every one we do."
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