Heavy rain causes Sheboygan River to overflow its banks

SHEBOYGAN (WITI) -- Heavy rains over the last 36 hours have caused the Sheboygan River to overflow its banks. Now residents living near the waterway are wondering where the water will go.

Tim Rumlow says the river is some 40 yards beyond its banks near his home.

"They had all the planted trees all along over here, all bird houses over here. It’s all gone. This parking lot, itself, is probably under four or five feet of water," said Rumlow.

Standing at the intersection of Indiana and Taylor, City of Sheboygan Public Works Director David Biebel explains an area down-river was dredged in 2012 to remove contaminants from the riverbed.

The project extended river depths which had been three to five feet, down to ten to twelve feet. That helped slow the flow and force the river water to move well beyond the banks.

"Our main concern right now is watching the water levels, and making sure that it doesn’t impact the traffic and the roadways," said Biebel.

But with Mother Nature's helping to create what is essentially a natural ice dam just upstream from the Pennsylvania Ave. bridge, there are other concerns coming.

"The other concern is, once it does start to release, is when the ice, ‘n’ that, gets moving. It starts to cause, it can cause damage, downstream. So, we just gotta monitor that, and keep our eye on the situation," said Biebel.