City lends a hand to citizens, businesses

Superior and Douglas County officials are reaching out to residents — both to assess the extent of damage and to lend a helping hand.

The city has agreed to receive the reports of damage from rural residents, said Andy Lisak.

A form available on either the city’s or Douglas County’s websites allows residents to report damage sustained during the flooding. People have received uninsured damage in particular are encouraged to file a report.

Already, Thursday morning, about 400 people reporting damage to private homes and businesses in Superior and rural Douglas County.

“Any materials we can get whether you’re uninsured or what the damage is, is going to help us out,” said David Sletten, He said it will allow Emergency Management to create a more complete report about the storm this week.

City and county officials are trying to get a better sense of the extent of the damage resulting from this week’s storm and flooding to apply for state funding to help pay for the infrastructure damaged this week.

“We’re going to try to get some assistance through the state damage assessment program, which pays 70 percent of the cost of public areas,” Hagen said. “I talked to Sen. (Bob) Jauch this morning at length and he’s doing some research about those available items as well as what else can be achieved through the state of Wisconsin.”

To help people who are cleaning out flood damaged basements and lost personal property the city is planning to take two steps to lend a hand.

First, the city will allow city and rural residents affected by the flooding to use the municipal landfill on Moccasin Mike Road at no cost for the next two weeks, and will extend its hours on Saturday during that period, which runs June 25 through July 9. The landfill is closed Sundays and on July 4, and the landfill hours on Saturday will return to 7 a.m. to noon after the two-week period.

Residents will be able to drop off their storm damaged items between 8 a.m. and 3:40 p.m. Monday-Friday, and 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday.

“We are going to encourage them if they have the capability vehicular-wise or health-wise to take it to the landfill if they want to get rid of it sooner than later,” Hagen said.

The city is also planning to hold an extra citywide cleanup this year, starting next week, to help city residents remove stuff they can’t haul to the landfill themselves. Just place the items where trash would normally be picked up.

“That way we can be more efficient,” Janigo said. “It’s probably going to be more concentrated in certain areas.

Just like the regular spring cleanup the city does each year, crews cannot take appliances, which can be recycled, and tires.

Residents should call (715) 394-0244 to arrange for pickup.

“We ask for their patience because we are swamped,” Hagen said.

Tags: flood info, news, superior, government