As Milwaukee County residents recover from extensive flooding, officials are going door-to-door to assess the damage.
Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley joined the Office of Emergency Management on Milwaukee’s north side to speak with residents affected by the flooding. One of them was Tamela Montgomery.
Montgomery recently moved to the neighborhood. I asked her to explain the flood’s impact.
"I don’t even know how to put it in words," Montgomery says. "When I noticed the water in my basement, I just couldn't — disbelief."
A car, damaged by the flood, sits in front of Montgomery’s home with its hood open. Montgomery says she feels defeated.
"I didn’t want to deal with nothing," she says. "I was mentally, physically, emotionally drained. I’m a student. How am I going to get to school. How am I going to do this? My car is messed up."
These individual stories are crucial for the Milwaukee County Office of Emergency Management to gauge how much damage the weekend’s storms and flooding caused. OEM Deputy Director Chris McGowan explained more.
"It’s difficult to quantify the damage that people are having because it’s such an individually-based disaster," says McGowen. "Somebody’s home is their castle and it’s not easy for the community to say, 'hey what damage do you have in your home?'"
McGowan says affected residents should report their property damage by calling 2-1-1 or filing a 2-1-1 Wisconsin Disaster Report online.
"Now, over the next couple of weeks and even into months, we’ll continue to do damage assessments and relief efforts to try and figure out a closer and tighter cost on what that is," McGowen says.
One big question is whether Wisconsin will qualify for federal help from FEMA. According to Wisconsin Emergency Management, the threshold to qualify for FEMA funds is $4.72 of damage per capita in the affected counties, and over $11 million in damage statewide.
McGowan says OEM is confident that damage estimates will exceed the threshold to qualify for federal funding. He says about 11% of reports so far are for properties that were fully destroyed.
"That’s a quantifiable criteria and so that kind of percentage, 11%, rivals a major hurricane," he says.
McGowen says the county hopes to provide residents with direct aid through philanthropic initiatives with community partners and businesses.
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