Burlington residents face flooding as Fox River overflows into homes, parks
By Duke Carter
Click here for updates on this story
BURLINGTON, Wisconsin (WISN) — The Fox River continues to flood streets, parks, and homes in Burlington after last week’s storms, with residents working to manage the water’s impact.
Beaumont Park remains underwater Monday, with its playground and baseball and softball fields submerged.
“It’s for fishermen and tourists and kayakers and all kinds of people love to use it. So sometimes it’s our friend. Sometimes it’s our foe,” said Donna Minkly, who runs an Airbnb near the river.
Minkly’s basement is now flooded due to heavy rain.
“We’re looking at groundwater entering through an outlet in the bottom of my basement. It’s not a worry. I suppose afterwards, we’re going to have to get the electrician in here,” she said.
Rich Cassidy, who lives along the Fox River, said residents are using sump pumps to keep water out of their homes.
“I went from two pumps to five pumps. Pumping it out,” Cassidy said.
“Pumping it out?” WISN 12 News’ Duke Carter said.
“Yeah, because it came in this way. Pretty good. So what I did is I ran over to Menards, got a couple extra pumps,” Cassidy said.
Cassidy described the flooding as one of the worst he can remember, comparing it to flash flooding in 2017.
“We lost everything then. I totally went under, but people got nervous on this one, which I don’t blame them. You know, that’s a scary thought, but if you just take, you know, keep going at it. Keep fighting the water. You’ll get through it,” he said.
Despite the challenges, Cassidy remains optimistic about living near the river.
“I got a nice river. You’re not going to get that as a backyard anywhere. So, you got to deal with ups and downs,” he said.
Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.