Weather wreaks havoc on minds

My storm-weary pit bull, Ginger Ale, finds high ground last Thursday.

Portage Daily Register
Columbia County's Daily Newspaper
Monday, June 16, 2008
[This came from the AP but no author was given. I did not write this--just the captions under my photos.]

Weather wreaks havoc on minds

MADISON (AP) — Catastrophic floods. Record snowfall. Violent tornadoes.

Mother Nature has beaten Wisconsin down over the last year, pounding it with floods in August, burying it with snow over the winter and sending monsoon-like rain to flood it again this spring. The brutal weather cost millions of dollars in damage to homes and businesses.

My sump pump and furnace try their damndest to surpass David Blaine's record for holding their breath as waters rise last Sunday, June 8. They fail.

Besides the sore backs from shoveling, the moldy basements and the piles of waterlogged carpet on the curb, months of unrelenting weather inflicted a more insidious pain, leaving nerves on edge, stealing sleep and upping overall irritability, psychologists say.

Renee Klotz, 46, of Wheatland, used to love watching storm clouds gather. But that was before a freak tornado in January destroyed her home and she watched floodwaters this week cover the street outside her Burlington apartment. Now whenever she hears a storm warning she gets nervous.

"It's insane. I've never experienced such extremes. I've lived in Wisconsin all my life and this is just crazy," Klotz said. "You just think, 'Oh no.' You think it isn't going to strike twice. But then I never thought it could the first time. You're a little bit on edge now."

Note the bass drum high up on a shelf. The bike died in last year's flood but waas helpful in protecting my horse feed this year. The new freezer was up 8 inches and still flooded. Now I have it up at 12 inches. It did make it.

Wisconsin has seen punishing weather patterns in the last 10 months. In August heavy rains pounded southwestern Wisconsin — Viroqua got 9.73 inches on Aug. 18-20 — and left the region's small towns underwater.

This is what is looks like when the water is going the wrong way through your basement drain. It took less than an hour for my basement to accumulate 9 inches of water.

Winter struck with a vengeance, dumping dozens of inches of snow. Gays Mills, which ended up completely under water in August, got nearly 80 inches of snow between November and March. Madison got 101.4 inches, a new record. Milwaukee got 99.1 inches. A freak tornado struck Kenosha County on Jan. 7, causing $21.6 million in damage.

Last week's storms flooded parts of nearly the entire southern half of the state. Madison and Milwaukee both set new rainfall records for June by Thursday. Thursday alone saw reports of nine tornadoes in the state, according to the National Weather Service.

Tornadoes are scary, but the thought of showering without hot water is downright terrifying. Plastic and duct tape saved my hot water heater this time.

Hundreds of people had to be evacuated and scores of roads closed due to washouts. Towns such as Gays Mills that were just starting to get back to normal found themselves up to their doorsteps in water and muck again.

Meteorologists say there's no physical connection between the weather events. But there's no denying an emotional one, even among weather-hardened Wisconsinites who pride themselves on taking whatever Mother Nature dishes out.

The Foo Fighters ride out the storm in a tub built for four. My friend Kurt's trusty stool was in a central location to help me gauge flood levels whenever I checked during the night from the basement steps.

"I'm about as depressed as I've ever been in my life," said Bob Pettit, owner of Apple Land Sports Supply, a wholesale sporting goods distributor in Gays Mills. He had to lay off about 10 employees last week because floodwaters prevented trucks from getting to his business. "Ten months apart, I don't care what you do. Realistically, what's a man supposed to do?"

Well, when you get really desperate and stressed, you might stack bricks and paint cans on top of plastic over your basement drains, thinking you can keep the water out that way. You'd be wrong, of course.

U.S. Rep. Ron Kind, a La Crosse Democrat, spent last week touring the flooding. He said people seem more down this time than in August.

"The mood is definitely different. Certainly more depressing," Kind said. "Just as people were on their feet again and getting their homes and businesses back to normal, they got hit again. It's heartbreaking."

Stephen Saunders, an associate psychology professor at Marquette University, said many people could go through acute stress disorder, a version of post traumatic stress disorder.

Storm windows under storm floods--again. Ya'll know I love irony...

Storm warnings or even dark clouds can trigger anxiety for people who had intense experiences in previous storms or floods, Saunders said. Road closures that make travel difficult and fear of losing a job because of the weather can add to that — causing anger, depression and driving people to drink or do drugs.

"You begin questioning your own safety," said Bill Henricks, a psychologist at Columbia St. Mary's Hospital in Milwaukee.

Randy Schiesser, a counselor and social worker at Gunderson Lutheran Medical Center in La Crosse, works with businesses' employees who need help with mental issues. He said he saw about a dozen people last fall who suffered from sleep loss related to the August floods. This past week's storms triggered flashbacks to August in several patients, he said.

"That's pretty normal," he said. "Certainly, the devastation this area has seen is quite rare. We had two 100-year floods in less than a year. We're a pretty hardy bunch. We're used to weather, but boy, what we've had has been a lot."

Some people float little homemade boats to pass the time during violent weather. This one was originally build to prop up the (new) dehumidifier, but I decided that was safer one floor up in the kitchen. It was a good call.

Darrell Augustine, 46, owns ABC Lettering, an embroidery shop on the banks of the Crawfish River in Columbus. On Thursday he said he'd slept about 10 hours in the previous five days. He had to stay awake to keep eight sump pumps in his shop fueled to keep out the rising river. His wife, Jenny Augustine, 43, said she cried for days during the storms.

"It's really depressing," Darrell Augustine said. "Stop raining."

Henricks said depression could deepen if the summer brings more severe weather.

Richard Bush, the 49-year-old president of Royal Bank in Gays Mills, said he's trying to stay positive, but it's difficult. He's heard from several people that they won't return post-flood this time.

"Whoever you can tell," he said as he watched the Kickapoo River creep up to his bank's foundation this week, "tell 'em to give us a break."

An exhausted and traumatized SodaPop tries to recover from a week's worth of terrifying thunder. She's so ready to move I found a small suitcase packed with bandanas, Iams treats and a dog-eared map under my bed yesterday.