Residents along Fox River South of Milwaukee are flooded

RACINE/KENOSHA COUNTIES (WITI) -- Rain hammered Racine, Kenosha and other communities to the South of Milwaukee -- with the Village of Waterford and parts of Kenosha County under a state of emergency due to flooding.

The Fox River is currently above flood stage, and is expected to continue rising.

Through rain, fog, water and trees, homes in Waterford seem to be almost floating.

"There's no place for it to go. The ground is really saturated .Lots of homes under water. They're completely underwater like, they're like islands," Richard Baumann said.

Chuck Duncan lives near the Fox River in Wheatland. His neighborhood is part of a voluntary evacuation.

"All of us around here are rather used to it, but I believe this is going to be the big one," Duncan said.

Duncan has seen flooding before, but he says he is preparing for the worst. He was hoping to hold out for one more day before leaving his home.

"A house can always be replaced and your safety cannot," Duncan said.

High water has closed roads between the dozens of homes. Streets look like streams.

"I don't know what these people are going to do," Baumann said.

Baumann was surprised Thursday by the new landscape in Waterford.

"It's really eerie. There's like a fog coming off the water. It's really surreal," Baumann said.

Meanwhile, Duncan is taking it one day at a time.

"I'm trying to be optimistic. There's good things about living on the river, there's bad things about living on the river. You just got to go with the flow, no pun intended," Duncan said.

In Wheatland, the Fox River is expected to go up another foot to close to 15 feet. That is about the same level it was back in 2008.