Berlin residents watching Fox River rise

BERLIN - The fast-flowing Fox River is still on the rise.

"It went up three feet within a week," said Green Lake County Emergency Management Director Gary Podoll.

And it will keep climbing through Tuesday. Much of Riverside Park has already become part of the Fox River and as the waters continue to rise, homeowners know there is little they can do to stop it.

"Sit back and hope and pray that it doesn't go any higher," said Joan Eastman, who lives along the river.

Eastman doesn't like what she sees out her back door. A stick in her yard was at the waterline Sunday. Now the water is inching past the stick more every hour. Eastman says she's not worried the expected 15-foot flood crest will affect her home.

"No, not much, I'm not, if it happens it happens, you've got insurance for it right?"

• Click here for complete information on the Fox River in Berlin

Other residents aren't taking any chances. Sandbags are piling up around homes and garages along the river. Hundreds more sandbags sit in piles at the public works garage waiting to help hold back the swollen river.

"It could get close to 15 feet and that gets it in a lot closer to homes and stuff," said Podoll.

Still the rising waters are a yearly battle in Berlin. In 2004, the river crested at a record 16.23 feet. In 2008, the river almost reached that mark again, cresting at 16.08 feet. The National Weather Service considers anything between 14.5 and 16 feet to be moderate flooding.

"Every four years, it seems we are getting the hundred-year flood," said Podoll.

"Sit back, relax and enjoy," said Eastman.