By Ryan Whisner
Fort Atkinson’s city council and manager, on Tuesday, during the council’s regularly scheduled meeting, offered praise to the city’s employees who were activated over the weekend to assist in the aftermath of severe storms which moved through the community Friday evening.
Sixty- to 70-mile-per-hour winds blew down trees, large branches, utility poles, and more across the city and surrounding area.
In addition, some 7,000 We Energy customers, a number that included nearly the entire community, were left without power, many for extended periods of time, with customers coming back on line at regular intervals throughout the weekend.
“I’ve lived here my entire life, 65 years, and I’ve never seen such a catastrophe hit Fort in one fell swoop,” council president Bruce Johnson said.
He commended city staff and the professionalism with which the city’s departments pulled together.
“I’ve never been prouder watching not only our city staff, but our citizens pull together to get past this,” he said. “Kudos to all of you, I’m very impressed and proud to be part of this.”
During her regular report to the council, City Manager Rebecca Houseman also offered her praise to the city’s employees.
“I want to thank our team members in the Fort Atkinson police and fire departments, Department of Public Works, water and wastewater department, and all of our other city staff that were activated over the weekend to assist in emergency response and then transition to cleanup,” she said. “Like many of our residents and businesses, city facilities were out of power for many hours.”
Houseman noted the loss of power posed a great challenge to ensure continued service, specifically for water and wastewater utilities.
“Our team members worked around the clock to locate backup generators, monitor wells and lift stations and remove debris from our roads and park,” she said. “Cleanup and return to normal operations will take a bit, but I’m proud of how our city staff and our community pulled together in a time of crisis to help each other.”
Council member Davin Lescohier agreed that patience was a factor exhibited by community members as they endured power outages over the weekend.
“I hope that, as a community, we still maintain some patience as the cleanup will continue because it’s going to take a while yet,” he said.
Among items sustaining damage was a pole holding a weather siren in Ralph Park which toppled in the sustained high winds.
A recent analysis of the city’s storm warning sirens had shown that the pole was rotting near the bottom and was due for replacement.
An earlier story about the condition of the pole in Ralph Park is here: https://fortatkinsononline.com/fort-city-council-approves-29563-to-replace-and-relocate-emergency-warning-sirens/.
City officials have noted that it will take about four to six weeks for that siren and pole to be repaired.
Conversely, the siren located near the intersection of Jamesway and Endl Boulevard also had been earmarked for replacement. The new, larger siren has been received and is slated to be operational by next week.
As cleanup efforts continue, Housman encouraged those with questions to contact city staff by email: info@fortatkinsonwi.gov.
A weather siren mounted atop a pole lies on the ground in Ralph Park. The pole, which toppled during the storm, had earlier been identified by members of Fort Atkinson’s city staff as in need of replacement. Chris Spangler photo.
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