"We basically lost," said Capt. Skip Watkins, a volunteer firefighter. "We fought and fought and fought and lost."

On Sunday evening, about 30 residents toiled to lay sandbags around the village community center. But the effort quickly became a salvage mission of the library books and village clerk records stored in the basement.

Three boats and four trucks were used to collect memorabilia and valuables from the buildings along highways 154 and 136, including the two village taverns, On the Rocks and the Coach House.

The "major decision not to fight it any more" came just before 4 a.m. Monday "when the water was rising faster than we could set sandbags," Watkins said.

By Monday afternoon, the confluence of the Baraboo River and Narrows Creek had swallowed the village 50 miles northwest of Madison, damaging 24 homes and seven businesses — from the Cenex gas station and Rock Springs Auto Repair, to the Baraboo National Bank and International Protein Sires, a multimillion-dollar company specializing in premium bull semen. The only sign of Fireman's Park was the roof of the concession stand.

The water depth in the center of town peaked at 7 feet just after midnight Tuesday. The previous record level for the Baraboo River where it runs along the north face of the village was 22 feet, but Wednesday it was still several feet above that.

As he took a break from ferrying residents across the downtown Wednesday, Watkins said the water had begun to subside. "We're happy to be at 27 feet."

The village is nestled between pastoral hills and winding country roads. Many of the residents commute to Baraboo and Reedsburg and some, such as 40-year-old Cliff Jasper, drive to Madison.

Jasper evacuated to his brother's house Monday as the water flooded Oak Street up to his driveway. When he returned Wednesday morning, the river was lapping over the first step of his porch and there was 6 feet of water in the basement.

"This house is out of the flood" plain, Jasper said. "That means it ain't supposed to flood."