Over two months after record flooding put much of the Midwest under water, affected areas of southern Wisconsin still have not completely recovered.
Gov. Jim Doyle declared a state of emergency for 30 Wisconsin counties in June, and President George Bush declared those counties federal disaster areas due to severe storms and flooding.
This summer, the state experienced damage to businesses and homes, and endured closed highways, crop damage and the loss of Lake Delton, which emptied into the Wisconsin River.
Lori Getter, a spokesperson for Wisconsin Emergency Management, said it could be months if not years before flooded areas are back to normal, citing locations where the water has not yet receded.
If you go to Spring Green, and there are some neighborhoods in Waukesha County, [where] the water table is so high that there's no place for the water to go,"" Getter said. ""The water won't be gone until sometime this fall.""
According to Getter, while many residents with minor damage to their properties have already cleaned up and made repairs, the recovery process for those with destroyed homes will take much longer.
Disaster aid cannot completely make up for what the recipients have lost, Getter said.
""Federal disaster aid is not designed to make you whole the day that you were before the flooding, but basically to provide assistance for you to have a safe living condition,"" Getter said.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has distributed roughly $46 million in assistance checks and is still receiving applications for federal aid, according to FEMA spokesperson Marquita Hynes.
The U.S. Small Business Administration has also given damaged Wisconsin businesses over $23 million in loans, according to Hynes.
Hynes said many volunteer agencies are also helping flooded areas.
UW-Madison sophomore Casey Schoenmann, a resident of Spring Green, Wis., said the flood made roads and driveways inaccessible, and several areas of his hometown are still underwater.
""There are still fields and subdivisions throughout Spring Green that have standing water in them or around them,"" Schoenmann said.
UW-Madison sophomore Allison Mahvi has a house on Lake Mendota and said her yard was flooded for a large portion of the summer.
According to Mahvi, residents in her neighborhood were not panicking when the water rose, but there was an overall mood of annoyance at the hassles and inconveniences that came with the flood.
