FEMA and WEM assess flood damage in Superior and Douglas counties

FEMA and Wisconsin Emergency Management are assessing flood damage to Superior and Douglas County Tuesday and Wednesday. Damage to UW-Superior is being found at a whole new level: underground.

Three Federal Emergency Management Agency and Wisconsin Emergency Management teams are surveying road and infrastructure damage, including at UW-Superior. Destruction from last month’s flood could top $15 million there.

State Department of Administration project manager Robert Otremba led the way into the steam pit near the Marcovich Wellness Center to show damage done to the insulation around the pipes.

State Emergency Management spokesman Tod Pritchard says they are still working on the dollar estimate of damage on campus but have come up with a better description of what was damaged, “Obviously there is millions of dollars of damage here at the plant, there’s no question, but how much of that dollar amount qualifies for federal funding? That’s the part that we’re really trying to get to and get and exact dollar estimate on it.”

At the steam plant, Building and Grounds Superintendent Dusty Johnson says at one point the water reached to the top of the stairs flooding both the full basement and sub-basement. That’s where the bottom of two boilers and the water treatment and coal equipment was kept. Johnson says most of the pumps are being rebuilt and all motors are being replaced, “For the amount of time it has been since the flood, we have got an enormous amount done: an enormous amount.”

Emergency Management’s Pritchard says tours will likely continue in Superior for another day or two and then on to flood-damaged areas in Bayfield and Ashland Counties.