Coping with Flooding

Information to help you keep your family safe in a flooding emergency, to help minimize damage to your property, and to help you with the cleanup.

What Can I Do?

• For more information and tips on getting started with flood cleanup, visit Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), After a Flood: The First Steps [exit DNR]
• Repairing Your Flooded Home [exit DNR] is available free from the American Red Cross or your state or local emergency manager.

Assure the Safety of Your Drinking Water

For people who use private well water

Private well owners should suspect their drinking water is contaminated by floodwaters if the well casing becomes inundated; if there's a change in taste, color or sediment in your water; or if your well does not have a deep casing and you are near areas that have been flooded. Wells located in pits and basements are especially susceptible to contamination.

• Immediately stop drinking the water and using it for cooking and preparing food.
• Switch to water from a known safe source.
• Follow these recommendations for wells inundated by flooding before you drink your water again or cook or prepare food with it.
• Test your well water, learn how:
  • Assuring Safe Drinking Water [VIDEO Length 3:16]

For people who get their water from Public Water Supplies

Listen and watch your local media to learn if your municipal water supply has been contaminated from flooding. You will be instructed to switch to a safe supply or boil the water before using.

Play Safe on Lakes and Rivers

After heavy rain and flooding, beaches and other recreational waters can become polluted by sewage, animal wastes, petroleum products, fertilizers and other contaminants. Play it safe if you plan to go swimming, canoeing, boating, or fishing after heavy rain and flooding:

• Check with local health authorities on water quality conditions and get updates on Great Lakes beach water quality and more than 100 inland beaches before you go. See, Beach Health [exit DNR].
• Avoid swimming or other contact with surface water until sufficient time has passed after the heavy rainfall or flooding for water levels to return to normal. This may take anywhere from 24 hours to several days or weeks, depending on the severity of flooding.
• Choose beaches away from developed areas and enclosed bays and harbors with little water circulation.
• Look for pipes along the beach that drain storm water runoff from the streets, and don't swim near them.
• Do not swim in beach water that is cloudy or smells bad. Never swim in areas of lakes and ponds where there's visible blue-green algae and keep children from playing in the water. Animals should not drink or swim in the water
• Pay attention and follow advisory signs.
• Keep your head out of the water.
• Wash up or shower thoroughly with soap and clean water after contact or swimming in any surface waters, regardless of whether they are flooded or not.

For more information beach health, see Wisconsin Beach Monitoring Program.

Manage Debris and Waste After the Flood

After floodwaters recede, homeowners and others face the often daunting chore of disposing of waterlogged debris. It is important to dispose of debris quickly but safely, protecting human health and the environment in both the short and long term.

The bottom line: don't burn or bury debris, recycle where possible, separate hazardous materials and landfill the rest. Above all, be safe.

The DNR has compiled information on how to dispose of specific materials and items, Coping with Cleanup. You can also contact local authorities to find out if there are special arrangements or resources for cleaning up and disposing of storm and flood debris.

Sandbag Disposal

Options to assure that full or emptied sandbags are handled properly:

• Full biodegradable (jute, burlap, or other biodegradable) sandbags can be used as fill where placement is not prohibited. They can also be disposed at a municipal solid waste landfill or a construction and demolition landfill.
• Plastic or non-degradable sandbags require a written DNR approval prior to disposal at a place other than municipal solid waste landfill or a construction and demolition landfill.
• Remove sand from bags and properly dispose of the bags in a municipal solid waste landfill or a construction and demolition landfill.
• Any disposal that involves removing the sand from the sandbags and properly disposing (landfilling, recycling, or reusing) of the bags and placing the sand in an area where fill placement is not prohibited.

Please contact the landfill in advance to make sure they will accept the sandbags and to obtain cost estimates for disposal.

• Facility/Operations Lists
• Solid Waste Construction and Demolition Small Size Landfills
• Solid Waste Construction & Demolition Intermediate Size Landfills

Reuse of full sandbags

• Full sandbags of both biodegradable and non-biodegradable material may be reused at other flood sites and may be reused to construct permanent earthen structures.
• Sandbags contaminated with petroleum products, transformer oil, or other contaminants are not considered exempt solid waste. For information on disposal of sandbags known to be contaminated with petroleum products, transformer oils, or other regulated contacting your DNR waste management specialist.

Sand from sandbags

• Use caution when reusing sand that came in contact with flood waters as the material may contain more bacteria than normal soil.
• Avoid placing sand in playgrounds, sandboxes, or other areas of direct human contact soon after removal from bags. Bacteria will dissipate with time and exposure to the elements. Sand could be stockpiled and used for winter road sand, fill, concrete or mortar sand, or other uses.

Manage Livestock Manure to Avoid Runoff into Streams

Flooding can increase the risk that manure will run off into streams and rivers, causing pollution and potentially fish kills, and costing the farmer a valuable free fertilizer. Rather than spreading on already water-logged fields or running the risk of getting their equipment stuck or damaging the soil structure, farmers who find their manure storage is full or nearly full during times of flooding are encouraged to contact their local conservation department to learn about alternative storage sites or options for safely spreading the manure. Largescale livestock farms with DNR permits can contact their DNR regional contact. Manure should never be allowed to run-off into surface waters.

• DNR Regional Contacts for WPDES Permitted Operations
• County Land Conservation Departments [exit DNR]

Milk Transport Disruption

During an emergency when regular milk pick-ups are disrupted, the following information should be considered by producers. Milk can be a hazardous substance if it is discharged to a surface water (stream, lake, pond, river), where it can cause biological hazards. Milk must be kept out of all surface waters. DO NOT discharge milk in a way that it may reach surface waters. Milk can be land applied to an upland field at a rate at which any other liquid waste would be applied.

You must report a hazardous substance discharge that reaches surface water. Call the spills hotline at 1-800-943-0003.

Correctly Replace Bridges and Culverts

Contact DNR for immediate advice on flooding-related culvert or bridge work, to assure the work is done correctly, avoids washing out or further flooding problems, and to meet potential requirements to qualify for federal disaster aid. Detailed information is available in the brochure:

Waterway Permits In Declared Disaster Areas PUB-FH-057 [PDF 69.8KB]

For More Information

• Wisconsin Emergency Management
• Flooding Health and Safety Tips