Door-to-door Evacuations After Rising Waters
- Rising water has prompted door-to-door evacuation efforts in Fremont Saturday morning, officials said. - Some streets now have more than a foot of standing water, threatening homes and access. - Evacuation teams are going house-to-house; residents urged to leave for safety immediately (fox11online.com).
Emergency crews in Fremont, Wisconsin, went door to door Saturday, April 18, urging residents to leave as floodwater kept rising around homes. (fox11online.com) Waupaca County Emergency Manager Zac Van Asten said the evacuation was still voluntary Saturday morning, but officials were being “proactive” as water spread across streets and access routes. He told FOX 11 that roads were still passable at that point. (fox11online.com) By later Saturday morning, the Village of Fremont said Waupaca County Emergency Management and the Fremont Fire Department were recommending that residents evacuate because road access could become limited or unsafe “with little warning.” The village urged people with mobility concerns not to delay and to stay with family or friends if possible. (wearegreenbay.com) The flooding threat has been building for weeks along the Wolf River system in Waupaca County. On April 4, county officials declared a flood emergency tied to the Wolf River after high water hit multiple communities. (wearegreenbay.com) River gauges show why Fremont officials moved before roads closed. NOAA’s gauge for the Wolf River at New London, downstream of much of Waupaca County, lists major flooding at 11.1 feet and showed recent river levels above that threshold. (water.noaa.gov) The National Weather Service’s Green Bay office said Saturday that high water across the Wolf and Fox river basins would remain steady or slowly recede during the week, a sign that flood impacts were expected to linger even as the worst rise eased. (weather.gov) Local response shifted from monitoring to neighborhood protection as conditions worsened. Sandbagging was scheduled to continue Saturday at 9 a.m. at Fremont Town Hall on Highway 110, west of the Citgo, Subway and Farmers State Bank, according to county officials. (fox11online.com) For Fremont residents, the immediate question Saturday was not when the river would crest but whether they could still get out safely. Officials’ message at the door was to leave before the water made that decision for them. (wearegreenbay.com)
