JEFFERSON — In some cases, the flooding in Jefferson County has created a disaster in slow motion, which will continue to play out throughout the week.

People such as Mary Lou and Rick Santovec watched the Rock River rise for the last week. They prepared with sump pumps and are continuing to move out valuables in anticipation of the river water moving from their basement into their first-floor living area.

The couple live on South Main Street in Jefferson near the river, which is way over its banks and has closed the two main bridges in town.

While southern Wisconsin counties have dealt with flooded roads and homes for more than a week, the Santovecs' basement didn't start taking water until Friday night. "We kept pumping and pumping," said Mary Lou Santovec, but, "we figured that it would probably not reach us the way it has."

For the Santovecs and many Jefferson residents, the hardest part is not knowing when the flooding will stop and the cleanup can begin.

"Are we going to have to total the house or are we just going to have to repair it?" Santovec asked. "You don't know when the end is."

In Jefferson, the Rock River crested Monday, according to the National Weather Service, but officials don't anticipate being able to let people cross the city's two main bridges for weeks. The National Guard was sent into Jefferson County Monday night to aid emergency services throughout the county.

Flooding has closed so many roads and bridges the county's normal traffic routes are devastated, officials said. Trips normally one mile now involve detours of 20 miles or more.

At the Wisconsin Street bridge in Jefferson, Tom Beane, who's volunteered with the Sheriff's Department for 10 years, stood guard at the closed bridge that leads to an evacuated area of the city.

Beane has witnessed the frustration from area residents tired of driving miles out of their way to get to work or the grocery. And while some "rubberneckers" do come down to the bridge to get a peek at the flooding, most people understand "this town is basically closed," he said.

Alice K. Free, who will be 97 in July, has lived in her home near the Rock River — not far from the Wisconsin Street bridge — her entire life, said she's never seen the river so high.

Her backyard and garage are flooded and over the weekend, water started to flood her basement. Friends and family are helping to pump it out, but Free has no plans to evacuate her home of more than nine decades.

"I don't like to leave," she said. "I'll stay here. If I can, I will. What comes, we can't do anything about."