Flood event costs to city up to $258,877

NEW LONDON – The flood event in April in the city of New London has cost the city $258,877 in expenses to date, with more expenses likely to be incurred.
That was the message that New London City Administrator Chad Hoerth relayed to the New London Finance and Personnel Committee at its June 3 meeting.
Hoerth said the city could receive a 75% reimbursement on eligible costs incurred.
“We can use donated services, donated materials, and donated labor as part of our match,” Hoerth said. “Part of our 25%.”
He added, “I’ve been told that as of this point in time the (flood) event for us is a qualifying event for disaster relief. Right now, I believe it’s going to be at least a Wisconsin Disaster Fund eligible event for public assistance. And to my understanding the governor has requested to the federal government to classify this as a federal disaster event. So, if that happens, FEMA would be available.”

Hoerth said FEMA funds more categories than the Wisconsin Disaster Fund does. For example, the cost of damage to parks is recognized by FEMA, but not the Wisconsin Disaster Fund.

Flood recap
Hoerth told the committee that the previous historic crest for the river in the city was 11.83 feet on April 3, 1979. The unofficial record was set at 12.12 feet on April 18, 2026. Even though not all the properties were affected by this year’s flood, there are more than 300 properties in the flood zones in the city.
Over a four-day timespan in which the city asked for volunteers to help make sandbags, more than 1,100 volunteers spots were filled. Hoerth clarified that if someone volunteered for three days that counted as three volunteers.
“Over the four days, they donated 2,400 hours of time, making over 55,000 sandbags,” Hoerth said. “Not everyone checked in. We know people just came, did their thing, and left, but there are probably even more hours and more people who actually helped out.”

He added, “That saved a lot of the downtown. It saved a lot of properties. It was awesome. The community came together.”

Flood expenses
The expenses that the city of New London incurred because of the flooding were also shared with the committee. Hoerth said these expenses were submitted to the county emergency management department, which shared them with the state of Wisconsin and FEMA. Those numbers will be used to evaluate whether the city hit expense thresholds for the event to qualify for state or federal aid.
Hoerth said the city spent $119,853 on regular city staff time, and $24,283 on overtime pay.
The city spent an estimated $25,253 on equipment use. The equipment expense is determined by the recorded hours or mileage that a piece of equipment was used during the flood event. Equipment rate sheets were then used to determine the cost to operate each piece of equipment, Hoerth said.

Hoerth said the city also purchased three pumps at a cost of $3,950 since city hall and the new library have basements. The pumps served as back-ups in case the sump pumps in those buildings failed.
“We didn’t have to use them I don’t think, but we wanted to have them here in a pinch, that we could start pumping out basements if they started flooding because of the existing pumps failing,” Hoerth said.
The cost for the disposal of the sandbags was $10,660.
“Once we started collecting used sandbags, we needed to dispose them at Outagamie County Solid Waste and Recycling Center,” Hoerth said.
There was also an expense of $8,161 to the Waupaca County Highway Department, which assisted in hauling the used sandbags to the recycling center in Outagamie County.
“They have quad-axle trucks, we do not, so there was a lot more weight that they could haul than what we could haul, so we utilized them to haul sandbags and that sand to the Outagamie County landfill,” Hoerth said.
The city also incurred an expense of $14,162 to GFL for the use of 30-yard dumpsters, Hoerth said.
“We hauled away 28 of those 30-yard dumpsters for flood-related debris that was collected from residents’ properties only,” Hoerth said.
The cost to inspect the North Water Street bridge was $675. Hoerth said that is the only bridge that is owned by the city.
Hoerth said the city is anticipating the following additional expenses:
• $49,750 – Storm sewer cleaning (about 9,950 linear feet)
• $3,500 – Storm sewer inlet cleaning (est. 175 inlets)
• $7,800 – Sanitary sewer cleaning (about 7,800 linear feet)
• $13,500 – Pfeifer Park middle diamond infield repairs
• $1,501 – Pfeifer Park lift station pump replacement
• $596 – Pfeifer Park bathroom interior paint/repairs
• $640 – Pfeifer Playground new woodchips

Donations
Hoerth said the city did receive donations during the flood event, with the top donation being sand. Murphy Concrete & Construction donated $9,814 worth of sand for the sandbags.
Sager Services, T. Johnson, and RJ Immel donated a combined $4,600 in value for trucking.

Hoerth added that the total volunteer hours calculated at the minimum wage rate of $7.25 per hour equaled $18,141.