From blizzards to ice storms to flooding, Shawano and surrounding counties have seen it all this spring. And the cost to deal with those severe weather situations has mounted into the hundreds of thousands of dollars for cities, towns, villages and counties.
Shawano County Sheriff Lt. Chris Madle, also the county’s emergency management director, said the Wisconsin Disaster Fund is what the state uses to reimburse municipalities for costs associated with severe weather cleanup.
Blizzard Elsa, which occurred March 15-16, was considered a major event of the county.
“I ended up getting 28 applicants,” Madle told the public safety committee May 6.
That included 20 towns, seven villages and the county itself.
“They haven’t released what the actual reimbursement amount would be, as far as what we’ll get back, but the total amount we applied for was just over $502,000,” he said.
The amount includes wages and equipment.
The county’s share of that was just over $205,000, because much of their work is for towns and the state, which are reimbursed through other measures.
The ice storm of April 2-3 resulted in $30,000 claims from Central Wisconsin Electric Cooperative and village of Tigerton.
It was also noted that county dispatchers answered 784 calls from 8 a.m. April 2 to 2 p.m. April 3. As a comparison, during that same time in 2025, they answered 200 calls.
Heavy rains and flooding of April 12-13 and beyond led to several culverts being washed out and roads closed due to high water.
He said the state is still determining how the costs will be reimbursed, as FEMA is also involved and federal funds may be available for some areas.
He said the worst case in Shawano County was the Balsam Row Road Dam on the Wolf River.
“We were very, very close to that breaching,” he said. “When I got up there that night, they were about an inch below the water going up over the top of the dam.”
With the help of the county highway department and surrounding landowners, sand berms were created on both sides of the dam to direct the water over the dam instead of flooding the embankment on each side.
“That ended up working,” Madle said. “The water went up over 6 inches in the two hours I was there. Within 48 hours, we were back down to where we were.”
He said the highway department is working with dam owner Wolf River Hydro Limited Partnership to recoup its costs from that night.
