Racine is among the communities in southeast Wisconsin buffeted with rain at the start of this week.
Racine Commissioner of Public Works John Rooney says in some areas of the city the rainfall reached “hundred year” levels.
As of Wednesday, 240 Racine households called on DPW crews to haul away flood-damaged items primarily from flooded basements.
Rooney hopes to reach all of the affected homes by the end of this week.
“We anticipate these folks want to get this material out of their basement, or out of their garage or out of their backyard, wherever they’re storing it off their property. They have other issues to deal with,” Rooney says.
Residents are asked to bring their flood-damaged items to the curb and if possible sort them.
“So like white goods, say someone has damage to their downstairs refrigerator freezer or say a wash machine, separate those out. Let’s say you had a television downstairs, that’s another iten we’d like to you keep separate on the curb,” Rooney continues, “Maybe you had a couch or some furniture, some personal items that got flood damaged. Get those out.”
Mattresses and box springs will also be picked up by DPW.
Rooney says whatever cannot be recycled will be compacted and crushed before it is delivered to the landfill.
“If we bring it out there uncompacted, we pay almost double the rate to “tip” or drop that material at the landfill,” Rooney says.
Homeowners are asked not to include hazardous materials in their flood damaged items.
“Like paint, cans of paint, hold on to that. The City of Racine does household hazardous waste collection every third Saturday of the month. Those materials can be brought to that facility,” Rooney says.
He says sewer backups aren’t the only cause of flooded basements.
Homeowners can take steps to avoid some of them by make sure their gutter systems are cleaned out and then extend the gutter system with downspouts.
“Get them at least six feet away from your property, minimum. That water then again gets away from where that hole was dug in the earth where they built your home back in the day. That will keep that water from getting in the structure, the foundation,” Rooney says.
Another step is covering window wells.
“Go to the hardware store, very cheap, get a plastic window well cover, you would not believe how much those help in keeping water from filling your window wells. If they fill up your window wells, they’ll go right down your foundation and likely into your basement as well,” Rooney says.
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