“It’s Coming up Quick”: Kenosha Co. Homeowners Brace for Fox River Flooding

As Shawn Cuda glanced out his back window, he could see the water rising into his backyard. More than a half foot of rain had to go somewhere, and for many in the area, that somewhere was the Fox River.

    “That set it off for me, and I said, I gotta get the house protected.”

Cuda and dozens of others took the opportunity to fill up free sand bags at a Kenosha County gravel pit Wednesday. He piled about 2 dozen into his truck, and headed back to his home along the river.

    “when you get to these new flood levels, it’s definitely a concern,” he said. “There’s a lot of people around us that are getting awfully worried.”

The river normally sits around 11 feet, but has already topped 14 feet with the recent rain. It’s expected to climb as high as 17.5 feet Thursday.

    “Now a days it seems to come up a lot quicker, but we got a lot of rain.”

Down the block, his neighbors were using a boat to get to and from their front door. The entire yard was filled was 6 inches of river water. That family was beyond sand bags, and moving on to a different approach.

    “That’s the part about living on the river, you gotta take the good with the bag,” says Cuda. “It’s been a long day, very long day. I’ll be praying tonight.”