Last year was an extraordinary year for flooding in Dane County.
In 2018, Black Earth, Wisconsin experienced historic flooding like many had never seen before in that area.
Seven months later, the village of about 1,400 residents continues to heal old wounds and repair what was lost.
Black Earth Administrator, Shellie Benish, reflects on the natural disaster, that changed everything.
“We received about 13 inches of rain within about 2 hours which really overflowed our creeks from one community to the next. It really inundated our downtown area and our business district.
She says the recovery effort has been very slow and residents are still getting federal help.
“A lot of our residents have received funds from FEMA already. The community is still working with FEMA on public assistance portions of infrastructure that was damaged, parks and whatnot yet,” explained Benish.
But Benish says the trauma and fear of more flooding are still there, every time it rains.
“Just because the flood event is over, it's not over for many of our families.”
Residents just hope the rains never add up to what they did in 2018.
“Are people being made whole? They will never be made one hundred percent whole from prior to the flood. We are just doing the best we can can to help them get through it,” Benish said.