Port Exploreum still picking up the pieces after serious flooding


SECTIONS OF walls that were soaked during Aug. 27 flooding in the basement of the Port Exploreum have been removed as the museum works to make repairs and reopen. Photo by Sam Arendt
By 
KRISTYN HALBIG ZIEHM
Ozaukee Press staff

The Port Exploreum, which was severely damaged by the Aug. 27 flood, won’t be open until at least next week.

“I want to get it open, but I suspect we’re not going to be open this week,” said Wayne Chruscial, executive director of the Port Washington Historical Society, which operates the museum. “Now it’s looking more like next week.”

Chruscial said Tuesday the elevator still isn’t up and running, a situation he had hoped to have resolved early this week.

“We’re waiting for some parts,” he said. “After they get them in, they tell me it’s not a big deal.”

Because of the issue, the Exploreum has cancelled its planned showing of the movie “My Favorite Wife” on Friday, Sept. 14.

The movie was to be shown on the second floor of the Exploreum because the flood significantly damaged the lower level of the museum.

The lower level of the Exploreum won’t be open for several months, Chruscial said.

But the staff has moved several pieces of technology from the lower level and relocated them elsewhere in the building, he said.

“That way, visitors will still get to experience some of the technology we have,” he said.

The popular Fish Daze game, which is being operated with a new computer after the flood destroyed the former operating system, has been moved to the first floor of the Exploreum, as has the lake ecology quiz, while the sailing kiosk is now on the second floor, Chruscial said.

Chruscial said he hoped to have complete estimates for the cost of repairing the museum by the end of the week.

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Wisconsin’s largest paid circulation community weekly newspaper. Serving Port Washington, Saukville, Grafton, Fredonia, Belgium, as well as Ozaukee County government. Locally owned and printed in Port Washington, Wisconsin.

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