Mayor estimates Watertown has about $4.5 million in damage

By Adam Tobias of the Daily Times staff
Tuesday, June 17, 2008 1:16 PM CDT

Traffic was down to one lane on the Main Street bridge by Tivoli Island on Monday. Crews worked to remove a tree from under the bridge after floodwaters carried it there. (GREG YLVISAKER/Daily Times)

The Federal Emergency Management Association will be assessing damages in Wisconsin due to the recent storms and flooding, and local residents and business owners should report any damages that have occurred because of the natural disaster, according to Watertown Mayor Ron Krueger.

Although it is a rough assessment, Krueger is estimating the city has sustained around $4.5 million in damages because of the flooding.

“We are in the neighborhood of about $4.5 million, but that's just a real rough, uninformed guess,” Krueger said.

FEMA may be assessing damages in the state, but Krueger said that does not guarantee residents will receive funding.

“We may recover some money based on expenditures for sand, sandbags, overtime and equipment usage and things like that, but I think the individual homeowners, if they think there is going to be a big pot of money out there that they can use to remodel and refurbish their homes and that, I don't think that is going to happen,” Krueger said.

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However, Krueger is still recommending that residents report their damages to the proper offices.

“They need to get on the list and that may give people the opportunity to recover some funds or at least get very favorable loans,” Krueger said.

For reporting damages, Jefferson County residents should contact the Jefferson County Emergency Operations Center at (920) 674-8695 and Dodge County residents should call the Dodge County Emergency Operations Center at (920) 386-4060.

Watertown residents may also call the city's municipal building at 262-4000.

Because of more than a week's worth of extreme weather including record rainfall, President George Bush is being urged by state Sen. Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, to include Dodge and Jefferson counties in the designated federal disaster areas.

“I am beginning to get nervous that perhaps Dodge and Jefferson counties will not be among the counties declared as federal disaster areas,” Fitzgerald said. “In situations like these, a state's governor typically is very influential when it comes to which counties are included. I would urge Gov. Jim Doyle to include Dodge and Jefferson counties in his recommendations for a federal declaration.”

A federal disaster area declaration makes federal funds available to communities for recovery programs, Fitzgerald said. The latest financial estimates for the storm fallout are in the tens of millions of dollars, he added.