The fallout from the weekend's record storms begins today, with thousands of people missing work to tend to their flood-damaged homes throughout southeastern Wisconsin.
Sump pumps, buckets, mops and sanitary products are at a premium at stores today, and restoration contractors with time available to respond to phone calls are scarce.
Rainfall totals in the region reached nearly 9 inches in some places for the weekend, according to the National Weather Service.
Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle declared a state of emergency for 29 counties due to severe storms and flooding. The counties include: Adams, Calumet, Columbia, Crawford, Dane, Dodge, Fond du Lac, Grant, Green, Green Lake, Iowa, Jefferson, Juneau, Kenosha, Lafayette, LaCrosse, Marquette, Milwaukee, Monroe, Ozaukee, Racine, Richland, Rock, Sauk, Sheboygan, Vernon, Washington, Waukesha and Winnebago.
The governor's declaration allows Wisconsin's Adjutant General, Brigadier General Don Dunbar to activate National Guard troops to assist the affected counties as necessary. Six soldiers and three high-profile vehicles were deployed Sunday evening to assist with evacuation of a mobile home park in the village of Ontario in Vernon County.
The State Emergency Operations Center has been activated since Saturday afternoon. Members of the Wisconsin State Patrol have been assessing road damage throughout southwestern Wisconsin.  The Wisconsin Department of Corrections has been responding to requests from counties for personnel to assist with sandbagging, and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources has been monitoring dams throughout Wisconsin.
The Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office Emergency Management Bureau opened a disaster hot line for citizens to report weather-related damages. Citizens are encouraged to call the hot line at (414) 278-3000.
The hot line is an automatic phone system to leave brief recorded messages for people whose properties incurred damages, such as basements flooded by water or sewage backups.
Creeks, streams and rivers are surging over their banks.
Thousands of cars have been damaged, and miles of roadways have been washed away. Trees have been uprooted, and power lines were blown down.
The Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District reported that its deep tunnel system was full and it needed to dump untreated sewage into Lake Michigan Saturday as an effort to reduce the number of sewer backups in homes.
Meanwhile, additional showers are expected this week. To track the storms, view the interactive radar at www.wisn.com, a media partner of SBT.

A bipartisan group of Congressmen, including U.S. Rep. Ron Kind (D-La Crosse), will join a broad coalition of interests to unveil "breakthrough legislation" designed to make health care insurance more available and affordable for the 47.1 million employees of the nation's 5.8 million small businesses and for 14.1 million self-employed individuals Tuesday.
Kind will be joined by fellow Congressmen Phil English (R-Pa.), John Barrow (D-Ga.), Bill Young (R-Fla.), Russ Carnahan (D-Mo.), Jo Ann Emerson (R-Mo.), Tom Allen (D-Maine), Jim Gerlach (R-Pa.), Jason Altmire (D-Pa.), Chris Shays (R-Conn.), Joe Courtney (D-Conn.) and Jim Ramstad (R-Minn.), along with representatives from the National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB), National Association of Realtors (NAR), and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU).
The announcement will take place at a Capitol Hill press conference on Tuesday at 11:30 p.m. (CST).
Kind said the Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP Act) would lower health care costs for small businesses by allowing them to band together to obtain lower premiums, provide tax credits for small business owners to offset contributions to employee premiums and ban health status rating in order to protect businesses from large rate increases simply because one employee gets sick.
This bill brings business and labor together toward a common goal of reducing health care costs for small businesses so that more of them can offer coverage to their employees, Kind said.

National City Bank announced today that the National City Community Development Corp. is providing $4.8 million in financing for the Blue Ribbon Loft Apartments at the former Pabst Brewery site being redeveloped in Milwaukee.
The $15.8 million Blue Ribbon Loft Apartments project combines the use of Federal Low Income Housing Tax Credits, Federal Rehabilitation Tax Credits, and Wisconsin State Historic Credits.
The Pabst project is being developed by Joseph Zilber, founder of Zilbert Ltd. and Towne Realty.
"This project, both historic and sustainable, represents the key to the rebirth of this neighborhood. The combination of Gorman & Company and National City Bank made it possible. I thank them for their efforts," Zilber said.
Located at 901 W. Winnebago St., the 95-unit Blue Ribbon Loft Apartments will be redeveloped as a mixed-income apartment building, affordable to families and individuals making 50 or 60 percent of the area's median income.
Construction is expected to begin this summer.
"Investing in our community by helping redevelop neighborhoods and stimulating economic growth is one of National City's most important roles," said Beth Wnuk, president of National City-Wisconsin Banking. "We are proud to team with such visionary leaders as Joseph Zilber and Gary Gorman on National City's first community development project in Milwaukee."
The Blue Ribbon Loft Apartments will be unique in their style and will incorporate Gorman & Company's signature "live well/work well" concept that caters to the "creative class," encouraging resident entrepreneurship through numerous amenities, including an education and business center, music and painting studios, a metal/wood shop, gallery and networking space.
Other Gorman developments include the Garton Toy Factory Lofts, Historic Fifth Ward Lofts, Majestic Loft Apartments and Old Moline High School Lofts, many of which demonstrate the commitment to Gorman's vision of an affordable residential community where artists can live and work.
"With an established, rich history of community development, we are pleased that National City recognizes the affordable, unique housing opportunities in Milwaukee," said Gary Gorman, principal of Madison-based Gorman & Company. "National City's investment demonstrates their commitment to the improvement of life in our city."
National City, headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, is one of the nation's largest financial holding companies.

The Milwaukee office of Hays Companies has acquired the employee benefits practice of the Milwaukee office of Wachovia.
The acquisition resulted in the transfer of nearly 30 clients from Wachovia to Hays. In addition, four employees - Gwen Snyder, Greg Hubley, Dan Robinson, and Michael Sebastian - joined the employee benefits team at Hays' Milwaukee office.
The acquisition continues the growth of Hays' Milwaukee office, which was founded in March 1999. In addition to an employee benefits practice, Hays also provides risk management and commercial insurance services, personal home and auto insurance, customized insurance and affinity programs.
"Employee benefits are a very important part of our Milwaukee business," said Bob Heaps, executive vice president of Minneapolis-based Hays Companies. "We look forward to working with our new clients and showing them the Hays service model- all the benefits of a national presence and expertise combined with local ownership and service delivery."

Midwest Airlines today announced the appointment of Leo Malloy as president of its Skyway Airlines subsidiary. Malloy succeeds David Reeve, who recently retired after an 11-year career with Skyway and Midwest.
Malloy has assumed overall responsibility for Skyway, which provides a variety of airport services - including ramp and dining services operations - for Midwest Airlines and Midwest Connect - as well as customer service operations in Midwest Connect field stations.
"In addition to its role as an important part of airline operations, Skyway has growth potential as a service provider of choice for other companies," said Timothy Hoeksema, chairman and chief executive officer of Oak Creek-based Midwest Airlines. "We're confident that Leo's extensive experience and team-based leadership approach will enable Skyway to achieve this plan."
Malloy has been with Skyway and Midwest for 12 years, serving in a variety of customer service and employee relations leadership positions, including vice president of customer service for Skyway and city manager for Midwest's operations at Ronald Reagan National Airport and Washington Dulles International Airport. He also served for five years at Independence Air in Washington, D.C., most recently as senior director for hub operations.

Wisconsin consumers need to be prepared for a new twist on a phone scam, according to the Wisconsin Bankers Association (WBA). The current scheme involves an offer to lower interest rates rather than previous scams that warned of compromised accounts.
In this latest variation, consumers receive a call with an automated message stating, "Your credit card is secure and has not been tampered with. We can lower your interest rate to 6.99 percent. Press 1 to continue with a live operator or 3 to stop receiving these messages."
People who proceed are greeted by a live person who will only identify themselves as being with a generic credit service and that the agency can cut their interest rate in half provided that some basic information is shared. WBA believes this is a scam and consumers should take steps to protect themselves.
According to the WBA, when consumers receive phone calls or e-mails from agencies claiming to be a credit company or financial institution and requesting their personal information, consumers should protect themselves by following these steps:

• Stop. Do not respond immediately.
• Think. Why would they need this information?
• Call. The number from an independent source (such as a phone book or statement).

"No credit company, bank or legitimate business will request a customer to give personal information such as PINs, bank account numbers or Social Security numbers over the phone," said Kurt Bauer, president and chief executive officer of the WBA. "Unless you initiate the contact, you should never give this information out."
If a person receives this type of request over the phone, WBA suggests they should note the name of the caller, the business represented and contact information. The consumer should then contact said institution, using contact information gleaned from a different source like a phone book, to verify the request.
If the request was not legitimate, the incident should be reported to the police, the misrepresented institution and the consumer’s financial agencies. The same guidelines and suggestions apply to e-mail requests for personal information.
"Criminals are constantly inventing new techniques or variations on old ones to steal personal information," Bauer said. "If a consumer is ever in doubt about a request, they should immediately contact the police or their financial institution. Both agencies are well equipped to determine the legitimacy of the request and will be happy to offer assistance."

Bedford, Mass.-based Hologic Inc. will acquire Madison-based Third Wave Technologies for about $580 million. Read more in SBT's daily roundup of headlines from newspapers across the state at www.biztimes.com/#news.

Dueco Inc., a Waukesha-based manufacturer of aerial lifts, diggers, cranes and other equipment trucks used by utilities across the nation, recently built its seventh plug-in hybrid truck designed for the utility market. The truck's hybrid system is recharged both while its engine is operating and when it is plugged in at night, said Joseph Dalum, the company's vice president. Read more in today's BizTimes Manufacturing Spotlight.

The federal government should provide incentives for America's trucking industry to become more fuel efficient, according to U.S. Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner, author of today's Milwaukee Biz Blog.

The BizTimes Stock Index tumbled sharply with the broader market Friday, losing 5.28 points to close at 154.11, and local stocks lost more ground in early morning trading today. The largest local decliners this morning were Manpower Inc. (down $2.22 to $61.69), Marshall & Ilsley Corp. (down 81 cents to $20.47) and Fiserv Inc. (down 66 cents to $49.34). The largest local gainers this morning were Johnson Outdoors Inc. (up $1.40 to $17.40) and Metavante Technologies Inc. (up 50 cents to $25.43). The BizTimes Stock Index was created by Small Business Times and is monitored by North Shore Bank. The index, which measures the stock values of publicly held companies based in southeastern Wisconsin, is updated daily and can be viewed at www.biztimes.com.