Flooding and Hail in Wisconsin, March 30 to 31, 1998

A series of showers and thunderstorms dumped heavy rains and small hail (1/4 to 1/2 inch in diameter) on already saturated soils over southcentral, southeast, and eastcentral Wisconsin, resulting in scattered reports of urban and small stream flooding. Most of the storms occurred between 1500CST and 2345CST on the 30th. The storms became severe when they deposited large hail at a couple locations in Sheboygan county, and one in Washington county.The flooding wasn't serious, but it did cause an inconvenience for many people. Rainfall totals between 0600CST on the 30th to 0600CST on the 31st were about 4 inches north of Johnsonville (Sheboygan Co.), 3.8 inches in Baraboo (Sauk Co.), 3.7 inches in Dodgeville (Iowa Co.), 3.6 inches in Portage (Columbia Co.), 3.5 inches in Sheboygan (Sheboygan Co.), 3.4 inches in Wisconsin Dells (Columbia Co.), 3.1 inches in Fond du Lac (Fond du Lac Co.), and 3.03 inches in Madison (Dane Co.). Totals of 2 to 3 inches fell over the southeast counties between Milwaukee and Kenosha.Madison (Dane Co.) police reported minor urban street flooding and brief, scattered power outages during the evening of March 30th as thunderstorms rolled through the city. Lowlands flooded east of Monticello (Green Co.) as the Little Sugar river left its banks. Some homes and one business in Monticello reported minor flooding in basements. Some roads in Dodgeville (Iowa Co.) were impassable as water filled area streets. A couple gravel roads near Dodgeville had washouts due to the flooding waters. Observed rainfall rates were as much as 1 inch in 10 minutes in southwest Iowa county near Livingston. The ground was covered white with small hail in the Dodgeville area. Rising waters on the Pecatonica River in Lafayette county resulted in the closure of Ferndale Rd. north of Calamine, and County H near Blanchardville. West of Rock Springs (Sauk Co.), some roads were closed due to high water levels at the junction of Narrows Creek and the Baraboo River. Lowland flooding was reported along much of Narrows Creek and along the Baraboo River from Reedsburg (Sauk Co.) to east of the city of Baraboo. Manhole covers "popped" in Baraboo. A few motorists got stuck in high waters on Highway 154 west of Rock Springs. At Lakeland College north of Johnsonville (Sheboygan Co.), the heavy rains flooded the campus wastewater treatment building, submerged the pumps and motors and causing the entire system to shut down. This then resulted in a sewage backup problem, and classes were cancelled for one day. On the west side of the city of Sheboygan, up to 7 inches of water covered some roads.Many of the mainstem rivers and other streams in southcentral, southeast, and eastcentral Wisconsin rose to bankfull levels or exceeded them by 1 to 3 feet due to the March 30-31 heavy rains on top of saturated soils. Although flooding was rated as minor, water levels remained at or near flood stage from the end of March through much of April. In fact, at some scattered spots, water levels remained high until May 11th!