More than 100,000 state residents could lose their unemployment benefits by the end of April unless emergency measures are taken soon, state lawmakers warned Thursday.

The state Department of Workforce Development already sent about 8,000 letters on Tuesday notifying people their unemployment benefits will end within several weeks, spokesman John Dipko said. Once the remaining amount is gone, additional benefits will not be available, the letters said.

The department started sending the letters this week and plans to continue mailing them at a rate of about 1,500 each week, continuing indefinitely, to notify those "who are nearing the point of exhausting" their benefits, Dipko said.

To head off the terminations, state legislators are writing to members of Wisconsin's congressional delegation and Sen. Max Baucus, D-Montana, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee urging Congress to extend unemployment insurance benefits and federal assistance covering health insurance through the end of the year.

"Without this extension, 104,000 Wisconsinites will lose their benefits by the end of April, 2010," reads the letter, signed by Sen. Judy Robson, D-Beloit; Assembly Speaker Mike Sheridan, D-Janesville; Rep. Chuck Benedict, D-Beloit; and Rep. Kim Hixson, D-Whitewater. "The job market has not rebounded."

Marv Wopat, a Rock County board member and former General Motors employee, said the prospect of thousands of unemployed people in hard-hit places like Janesville losing benefits could devastate laid-off workers trying to rebuild their lives.

"It's terrible news," said Wopat, who has three children receiving unemployment benefits. "A lot of people are going to school and trying to get their feet on the ground."

People in Wisconsin can receive a maximum of 93 weeks of unemployment benefits, Dipko said. Wisconsin's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate is about 8.7 percent, which is below the national rate but far higher than the state rate of 5.9 percent from a year ago. The state has lost about 163,000 jobs during the past year.

Meanwhile, the state's unemployment fund faces a projected deficit of about $2.8 billion by the end of 2011.

In the letters sent out this week, the DWD lists other options for people about to lose their benefits. Those include:

• Help paying for health insurance and food with programs available through the Wisconsin Department of Health Services, including BadgerCare Plus, FoodShare and Women, Infants and Children (WIC)

• Funds for emergency assistance, job access loans, Wisconsin Works (W-2) and other programs available through the Wisconsin Department of Children and Families

• Online job search help available at jobcenterofwisconsin.com

• Job training, housing assistance and other programs available through the Wisconsin Community Action program.