Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
The Black River roars at Conglomerate Falls in Ironwood Township Sunday.
By ZACHARY MARANO
zmarano@yourdailyglobe.com
As of late April, most of the snow appears to have melted in the western Upper Peninsula and northern Wisconsin, barring some small patches here and there. Of course, the snowmelt has to go somewhere and bodies of water such as the Black River in Gogebic County are at high tide.
However, there has been no major flooding on the roads so far, according to Heidi DeRosso, emergency management/911 coordinator in Gogebic County, and Stacy Ofstad, director of emergency management at the Iron County Sheriff's Office in Wisconsin, and it is unlikely there will be any at this point.
Ofstad said that colder temperatures this year have kept all the snow from melting at one time. The snow giving way gradually over a "long, long spring" helped tremendously in stopping the deluge that sometimes renders roads untraversable, he said.
The extent of the problems in Iron County are the usual muddiness from spring breakup on dirt roads such as North Island Lake Road but, for the most part, conditions are good, Ofstad said.
DeRosso added to Ofstad's comment by saying that a drier summer and fall also contributed to the current situation, reducing water levels prior to the 2021-2022 winter season and helping prevent the seasonal flooding that can occur along the Montreal River running through Ironwood and Hurley.
DeRosso said that the only place where the Montreal River is "a little high" is at Norrie Park in Ironwood, but the water level is not over the road. She said there are some areas with shallow pools of water over the roads, but there has been no major flooding.
If there is a flood, DeRosso said that emergency management will work with the city or town, local law enforcement and the Gogebic County Road Commission. She said that her office will close any roads and set up detours as needed.
DeRosso said that emergency management purchased 4,000 sandbags about a month and a half ago for use in floods. She said that Ironwood Township recently purchased sandbags in case they needed them, as well. Ofstad said his office also distributed sandbags to every town in Iron County some years ago.
In the event of an emergency, Ofstad said that the Iron County Sheriff's Office will document what roads are damaged or closed, issue notifications to the public and assist the cities and towns in addressing the flooding by helping provide them with whatever they need.
