'It's flooring me': Onlookers in awe as Fox River nears record levels in Waukesha

WAUKESHA, Wis. (CBS 58) — Floodwaters pushed the Fox River in Waukesha to nearly historic levels, closing roads and drawing crowds to see it for themselves.

The downtown Barstow Street bridge is one of more than a dozen roads shut down, as the river below reached its highest level in seventeen years.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Fox River reached a peak of 8.58 feet Monday at 6:15 p.m., and stayed around 8.5 feet through Tuesday afternoon. The record is 8.8 feet in 2008, and before that, the river had not exceeded 8 feet since 1960.

"It's been a long, long time since it has been this high," said Jimmy Zazow, as he looked at a 50-year-old photograph of his siblings by the river.

"I just today decided to walk down and look at it more up close, and this is just - I've never seen it like this before," said Reannen Anderson.

City of Waukesha Public Works spent the day pulling logs from fallen trees out near the Barstow bridge.

"That water is probably running at least 30 miles an hour, if not more," said Brent Shirts, from Pewaukee. He and his wife came to see the river after losing power in their home Tuesday morning.

"We've had three days of this nonsense back and forth. So we decided we'd take a little drive after we figured out how to open up our garage door," He said. "This is really something to see. It's an amazing, amazing historic fact that this is occurring."

Several roads in the downtown area have been closed since Sunday, with more closed Tuesday morning.

"Bike trails, you can't even go down, you can't even see them anymore, like, it's flooring me, the amount of roads that are blocked off," Anderson said.

This is just the beginning of recovery efforts, and concerns will remain high until the river is low again.

"It's so catastrophic. It's a pity, and I really feel for so many people in the greater southeastern part of the state. It's so sad," Shirts said.

According to the City of Waukesha's Facebook page, Public Works Trucks are parked on the Barstow street bridge to to add additional weight.

The post says there was a possibility the force of flood waters could cause a part of the bridge to lift or shift, due to the way it was originally built. Since water levels are starting to recede, the city said it is very unlikely the bridge will be impacted.

Click HERE for a list of road closures.