Just saw on my Facebook feed that floodwaters have inundated the museum yet again. While they were able to get most of the rolling stock to high ground, not everything was in a mobile state. The picture of the newly rebuilt Baraboo bridge was troubling as the water had already reached the bottom of the girders and was still rising. Volunteers were trying desperately to keep water out of the depot basement and were doing a heroic effort with plastic sheeting and sandbags.
"By 7:41 PM on 8/30/2018 water had almost fully covered the passenger platform and the strong current made it unsafe for volunteers to continue to stay there to try to keep the basement water pump going. The decision was made to abandon the effort to save the depot basement (meaning the loss of the furnace, water softeners, dining services refrigerators and freezers, and electrical equipment). It is hoped that the water will not rise enough to impact the main floor containing the waiting rooms, ticket office, and gift shop, although all movable items were raised before leaving the building to its fate."
I'm hoping that the water did not rise considerably higher, but further information wasn't available. My heart goes out to them, 10 years ago the last devastating floods took out the Baraboo bridge.
https://www.facebook.com/MidContinentRa ... 71/?type=3

Mid-Continent Web Cams:

http://www.midcontinent.org/live-webcam/

The webcams went out of service just before 4AM Saturday morning when the telephone and internet connection flooded out. The only image available is a time lapse from Friday showing the water rising and rising.

As of this morning (Saturday) it was reported that the river had crested and was starting to recede. It is most fortunate that the museum learned from the 2008 disaster and had a plan in place. The only equipment left in the flood were either cars unable to be moved or equipment that simply ran out of time when the water got too deep for the diesel. Also reported was that the older display shed got only a few inches of water, not enough to damage the collection stored inside.

The flood is now a RE-Flood. 8 inches of rain to the northwest of Mid-Continent is going to force the Baraboo River back to historic flood levels within the next few days. Mid-Continent is frantically using the hiatus to move additional equipment and property to higher ground. The expected new crest may be 2 feet higher than last week's and only a half foot less than the "100 year flood" of 2008.

The video speaks for itself. This was from the crest last Friday....mld
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fb6cJ7Hcq8

At this time from my take on things the depot is the most vulnerable to damage. This time around precautionary steps were taken and the flood level was supposed to be around 22.5' it ended up being 27.3 or something close. But the troops involved did a fantastic job of moving equipment out of harms way. Still will have damage and a lot of clean up but hopefully not near as bad a 2008. Round 2 of flooding is going to be worse and last longer I am afraid.

I moved a lot of tooling and Daves machinist tool boxes to higher ground along with other tools/parts. Also moved the IR air compressor which was partially submerged but think I can just change oil and run it? Some heavier stuff I couldn't do by myself. My old liftgate PU truck is at auction. It would of come in real handy today. Couple of pedestal grinders could of gotten out that I think might of missed the first flood. Was told the new bridge seemed no worse for wear, not sure how expert the assessment was? Sure would bite to loose the bridge a month after it was opened or month and half? I worry about our historic depot the most. With the WI river so high I do not see this 2nd floods water going down near as fast as the first ones did. Portage Wi bridge over the WI River tells the story. Better hurry up and open the dams full bore down stream. Hope the plan to move more equipment tomorrow happens before the Boo rises again. Was about 2 ft below the road leading to engine house when I left about 8 PM or so. I am so grateful the the crews who busted butt and moved what they did. We are not out of the woods by any means but we saved a lot of work and equipment from damage and those crews are my heros.

Regards, John

The waters of the normally placid but now mighty Baraboo River have returned. The crest is now thought to be a little lower than last week but still at catastrophic levels. Here's the link to the MCRHS web cams.
https://www.midcontinent.org/live-webcam/

http://trn.trains.com/news/news-wire/20 ... -at-250000

(NOT behind the usual paywall)

Mid-Continent is seeking donations to help offset the insurance deductible and other costs. Donations can be made through a link on their website to PayPal. I have already done this as have many folks I know.

http://www.midcontinent.org/donations/

The flood created several minor washouts in the yard area and at each end of the recently repaired river bridge. The bridge itself was unaffected by the flood waters or the debris that came down the river. A railroad contractor has already repaired all of the washed out sections of the North Freedom yard area. Cleanup of the shops and display sheds is in full swing. Rolling stock will be returned to the yard when the ground has firmed up sufficiently. The plan now is to reopen the Museum on October 6 for the fall season special weekends. The depot building will still be out of service at that time but the goal is to reopen it the weekend of October 20.
Quite a contrast to 2008 when the museum was closed for almost an entire year.