HUDSON, Wis. — A small cluster of homes on the St. Croix River in Hudson, Wisconsin is prepared for the river's annual flooding.
With the main road that connects the homes to the city completely flooded already, neighbors are parking on high ground and walking through each others' yards.
Speaking to neighbors, they're quick to bring up the flood of 2001, when the river crested 92.3 feet, according to the National Weather Service.
Although it's not as high as in 2001, people like Louise Dobbe said the water level now is higher than it was the last few years. St. Croix is currently sitting at 88.4 feet, as of Monday afternoon.
Dobbe's neighborhood is used to the flooding though. They're quick to adapt.
"It's a great way to visit with the neighbors as they walk by your house,"
Dobbe said. "Usually they're driving by on the street, or they're walking their dog on the street and you have to make an effort to go down there and join them."
Not much has changed through time in how they work around the water. They either park and walk, or canoe.
"If I need to carry anything that's really heavy, and if it's not as windy as it is now, I'll canoe up to the top of the street to the dry ground and bring my groceries back in the canoe," Dobbe said.
Or if you're a neighbor with a certain kind of vehicle...you go about your day, business as usual. One neighbor who lives on the far end of the street has some sort of hybrid vehicle that can traverse through deep waters.
But Dobbe says since the houses on the hill all know the water is coming, stocking up is the name of the game.
"Because it might be two weeks, it might be three weeks, we've had situations where it's flooded, started to recede and it's come back up," Dobbe explained.
The beauty of St. Croix keeps the neighbors here...through high water or dry times.
"The neighborhood is pretty tight, there's 11 homes down here and we know each other and each other's dogs and I've been here 40 years and I have no intention of leaving," Dobbe said.
The National Weather Service is projecting the St. Croix River will enter major flood stage midweek, and is expected to crest at 89.5 feet.
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