Lakeshore Flood — Southern Oconto, Wisconsin

2019-12-01 · Southern Oconto, Wisconsin

$25K

Property damage

Event narrative

The combination of high bay water levels and strong northeast winds caused flooding of several homes along the Bay of Green Bay. Several roads were closed due to flooding including: Harbor Road, Splinter Causeway and Bayshore Road in Oconto. The high bay waters levels seeped into the Oconto Wastewater Treatment Plant which crews used sandbags to contain the water. The treatment plant was over capacity due to the high water levels, resulting in water usage restrictions for the City of Oconto and the Towns of Pensaukee and Little River.

Wider weather episode

The second winter storm in a week struck during the Thanksgiving weekend, impacting Wisconsin from late Saturday evening November 30th through Sunday December 1st. The storm developed over the Central Plains early Saturday, then quickly moved east to the Wisconsin/Illinois border on Sunday. Warm air aloft brought a mix of rain, sleet, freezing rain, and snow to the area Saturday afternoon and Saturday evening, transitioning to all snow by Saturday night and continuing into Sunday. A band of 8 to 12 inches fell across northern Wisconsin, with some areas receiving as much as 14 inches of snow. Farther south, snowfall totals were lower, in the 4 to 8 inch range; however, gusty winds caused some downed trees and power outages across the region. The combination of high bay and lake water levels and strong northeast winds also caused considerable flooding along the bay and lake.

Some of the higher snowfall totals included 14.0 inches in Wausaukee (Marinette Co.), 13.5 inches near Mountain (Oconto Co.), 13.4 inches in Florence (Florence Co.), 12.2 inches in Washington Island (Door Co.), 12.1 inches in Crivitz High Falls (Oconto Co.), 11.6 inches in White Lake (Langlade Co.), and 11.3 inches near Argonne (Forest Co.) as well as Rice Reservoir (Lincoln Co.).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 869773. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.