APPLETON — The city of Appleton experienced 2 1/2 inches of rain on Friday, according to the National Weather Service. It fell in a short time span, leading to flooding around the city.
A number of neighborhoods were hit by the floods, and city departments mounted a significance response from city departments in the areas south of Northland Avenue, east of Meade Street, west of McDonald Street, and south of Pershing Street. This is according to Appleton mayor Jake Woodford, who went to the flooded areas Friday.
The National Weather Service of Green Bay told the Appleton Post-Crescent that the streets impacted the most by flooding included North Viola Street and North Meade Street near the ThedaCare Regional Medical Center, as well as at the intersection at East Evergreen Drive and Meade.
When discussing the causes of the overflow, with the Post-Crescent Monday, Woodford said there's no evidence of failure within the storm water system, rather the amount of rain coming down so quickly was a lot for the system to handle.
"When we receive a rainfall event like this, at 2 1/2 inches of rain in an hour, that's just an extraordinary amount of water. The system is not scaled to move that much water in that short a period of time in such a localized area," Woodford said. "We will continue to focus on investments in the storm water infrastructure in the city. We see those investments pay off in parts of the city that have had updates to the system."
The city also, on Monday afternoon, announced on Facebook it is organizing storm clean-up collections for items that were water-damaged by Friday's flood. Week one will start Wednesday, with week two beginning July 15.
This service will be available to residents living in the area bordered by Richmond Street, Northland, Ballard Road and Wisconsin Avenue. Water-damaged items, including building materials, may be placed on the curb the evening before the collection day. The city will not collect electronics, appliances, hazardous waste items or tree and brush debris.
The city is also partnering with the American Red Cross to offer clean-up kits for free, from Tuesday through Friday. It includes a gallon of bleach, plus a mop, broom and squeegee, garbage bags, gloves, masks and other useful items. Kits can be picked up from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Facility and Grounds Operation Center, 1819 Witzke Blvd., as supplies last.
As far as funding those who's homes have been damaged, Woodford said that is something that would likely have to go through the state or federal agencies. The city currently doesn't have the funding to assist the homes, but Woodford hopes for that to change in the near future.
"It's unlikely that the scale of the damage will reach a level where we as a community would be eligible for state or federal assistance. We're still evaluating that," he said. "We're working with with our agency partners to determine if we can get any local funding. We're certainly making an effort to do that."
Woodford states that the city's engineering team is looking into what happened, while the city will continue to look into the storm system infrastructure as the area continues with a rainy summer.
Rashad Alexander can be reached at ralexander@gannett.com.
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