Update: 3:20 p.m. 7/14/2016 Wheeler News Service: Several roadways are under water and remain impassable in northern Wisconsin and Minnesota where flooding caused by storms earlier this week has yet to recede. In Wisconsin, Highway 2 between Ashland and Hurley remained closed as well as other roads in the region. In the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest, the Beaver Lake Campground near Mellen is closed due to flood damage. In Minnesota, volunteers are filling and stacking sandbags in Moose Lake where residents are keeping an eye on rising lake water. The Pine County Sheriff's Office issued a voluntary evacuation notice for Willow River because of high water at the city dam. The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency said untreated sewage was being discharged into Moosehead Lake and Moose Horn River at an estimated rate of 450 gallons per minute in order to prevent damage to the wastewater infrastructure.
The impacts of Monday's storms across eight counties in northern Wisconsin is still been assessed, but it's clear the storm also has done major damage in the Chequamegon- Nicolet National Forest.
Jim Grant is a Forest Service Incident Commander in the area known as the Great Divide, located in Glidden. He says not all the damage assessment has been done but this much is known so far...
"...We have numerous bridges, culverts, trail systems, roadways, heavily impacted areas. 80 percent of our bridges and culverts have had some level of impact...."
Grant says several campgrounds have been impacted. He says they have about 202 miles of forest roads that have been impacted to the point of being impassable and about 250 miles of total roads that have been impacted one way or another. Grant says one of the heaviest impacted areas is east and west of Clam Lake where there are campgrounds and dams amidst the damage.
Here is a longer interview with Jim Grant...
