Friday, September 6, 2024
By Emily Conroy
Moving forward, the city of Manawa faces challenges as it clears the damage done by the breached the dam.
What that means for the community remains to be seen.
“There are still a lot of questions to be asked and answered because it’s so early,” said Manawa Mayor Mike Frazier.
Frazier said there is still a long way to go, with early timeline estimates on fixing the dam if everything goes quickly and smoothly is July 2025. But that is a big maybe, he said, and it could be as late as 2026.
Frazier said there are a lot of steps to get through as well as closely working with the Department of Natural Resources to ensure everything is built up to current code.
The original timber frame dam was previously breached in 1922, when a large amount of rain fell in a short period of time, Frazier said, the flood was almost exactly the same. He said it was not until 1926 that they were able to repair and reopen the Manawa dam.
At a special council meeting July 10, Josh Smith, the Manawa fire chief and head of the Department of Public Works, said 165 fire and emergency services personnel and over 40 law enforcement officers from around the county showed up to assist, as well as a water rescue team from Stevens Point.
Smith said, three flooded cars needed rescue after streets became impassable due to flooding.
During the special council meeting July 10, officials learned that the damages to Lindsay Park will not be covered under the city’s insurance.
Damages to the park will require replacing baseball/softball diamonds, dugouts, tennis courts, most of the fences, as well as fixing damage incurred to the shelter house. It is unknown if or how much dirt might have to be removed due to possible bacteria throughout the park.
Frazier said at the July 10 meeting that the park is essentially trashed due to the force of water that caused the flooding July 5.
As far as the future of the park, Frazier said, the council will have to figure out what the city should do. Finding funding to fix and rebuild the park may be difficult due to a couple of loans that were taken out this year to fix roadways.
Frazier said the park is historic and he does not want to see it shut down, hoping that with a rebuild of the park they can put safety precautions in place to possibly prevent this from happening again. He hopes engineers will be able to assist with the job.
Because of the park’s condition, the council also voted on to move the Manawa Night Out, scheduled for Aug. 1, to the Little Wolf High School grounds.
The Manawa football team was supposed to paint the dugouts, concession stands and softball diamond as a community service project. Instead, they helped their community July 13 by assisting those affected by the flooding clean out ruined items from their homes.
The future of Lindsay Park is unknown, Currently, Lindsay Park remains closed for the foreseeable future.
County Trunk N, Beech Street and the bridge on County Trunk B have been reopened. Frazier said the bridge on County B is slotted to be replaced next year, which was already in the plans prior to July 5.
Storm sewers were also compromised and damaged during the flooding, Frazier said, there is a lot of debris and silt that needs to be cleaned out before winter.
“I think we have to consider us very fortunate, because you look at the people in Texas, with all the water still there and still no power, lives were lost and we just have to be patient right now,” Frazier said.
