‘We have no AC and no hot water’: Milwaukee County residents still cleaning up from weekend storm

Eric Truss and his 4-year-old son used to love watching lightning storms from the front porch of their Wauwatosa home. 

That’s what they were doing Saturday night when storms rolled through southeast Wisconsin. 

“We used to love rain showers, up until this weekend,” Truss said.

Truss woke up around 6 a.m. Sunday to the sound of water pouring into his basement. That was after he and his son watched the storm pour around a foot of rain on some parts of Milwaukee County in just a few hours. 

“Then I opened the door and saw there was already water like three steps up,” he said. 

Truss said eventually around 7 feet of flood water from the nearby Menomonee River flowed into his basement. The water knocked out his HVAC system and hot water heater, forcing his family to move in with relatives while they work on cleanup and repairs.

“We have no AC and no hot water and a 4-year-old son and a dog,” Truss said. “So we have to make the house livable.” 

Truss is just one of thousands of people impacted by the historic rainfall that led to widespread flooding and damage in Milwaukee, and across southeast Wisconsin, over the weekend. The storm left flooded streets and basements, downed trees and power outages in its wake.

Residents in southeast Wisconsin filed more than 13,000 damage reports, according to the most recent Impact 211 data.

During a Thursday press conference, Cassandra Libal, director of the Milwaukee County Office of Emergency Management, said 150 staff members with the office are performing damage assessments. She said preliminary damages are already over $23 million.

Dwayne Morgan, a resident of Milwaukee’s west side, said there was around 3 feet of sewage water in his basement, forcing him to throw away many of the items he kept downstairs.

“Mainly a lot of furniture, and a lot of personal effects, you know books I had in boxes on the shelves, a lot of old dishes from the old house and stuff like that,” Morgan said. “So it was quite a bit of stuff.” 

Morgan paid a cleanup company $800 on Tuesday to haul out damaged items. His hot water heater and furnace were also destroyed.

On Friday, he estimated a loss of around $15,000. He said his insurance will not cover a sewage water backup, leaving him on the hook for the damage and repairs. 

“So yeah, it’s all out of pocket,” Morgan said. 

Ava Carter has lived in a duplex on Milwaukee’s north side for over 40 years. She said a few feet of flood water infiltrated her basement.

“It was a mess,” Carter said. “A real mess, and it’s still a mess.” 

She and other residents of the duplex said they’ve spent the past three days carrying damaged items — like window air conditioner units, a printer and dehumidifiers — out to the curb for the city to pick up. 

“And one of those bags is full of tapes that were old movies and things like that,” Carter said while pointing to a garbage bag on the curb. 

Gov. Tony Evers announced Wednesday that he’s requesting a Joint Preliminary Damage Assessment, or PDA, from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA. That will determine if the state meets the threshold needed for a presidential disaster declaration. 

A letter from U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore, D-Milwaukee, U.S. Rep. Bryan Steil, R-Janesville, and U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-WI, called on the agency to “act without delay.”

“In preparation for the damage assessments, FEMA is coordinating with Wisconsin Emergency Management to discuss the information submitted, determine team requirements, establish a PDA briefing time and location, and develop an overall PDA coordination plan,” a FEMA spokesperson wrote in a Friday email about the request. 

Wauwatosa was one of the hardest hit areas from the storm. A spokesperson for the city said public works staff have collected around 250 tons of flood debris so far. 

“Initial assessments indicate that more than 500 homes and 50 businesses were impacted by the weekend’s flooding,” a statement from the spokesperson said.

Flood damage for city-owned properties is estimated to be $9 million, according to the statement.

James Moore lives on the Menomonee River Parkway in Wauwatosa with his wife. Water from the river broke his windows and rushed into his home early Sunday morning, filling his entire basement.

He and his wife have been staying at a nearby hotel for the past few nights.

“It’s been a struggle,” Moore said. “There’s no way you can prepare for this.” 

His wife lost her sewing machine and sewing supplies in the storm.

“Her whole life is right there,” Moore said, pointing to the equipment in a heap of garbage on their front lawn.

But Moore said he’s also seen the best in people over the past few days. He said a group from a religious organization helped him carry out damaged items from his house.

“People have stopped by with sub sandwiches, coke … cleaning supplies,” Moore said.