Wisconsin was battered by catastrophic flash floods this weekend, turning roads into rivers, shutting down the state fair, and flooding an airport in scenes residents compared to a “natural disaster movie.”
The deluge began Saturday evening, when torrential rain pounded the Milwaukee area. By midnight, water was rising so fast that the National Weather Service (NWS) issued emergency flash flood warnings for Milwaukee, West Allis, and Wauwatosa.
By early Sunday, dramatic images flooded social media: vehicles submerged to their windows, streets transformed into raging currents, and one man stranded atop the hood of his car as water surged around him.
“It was like the river came for us,” said David Moreno, a West Allis resident trapped in his home near the swollen Menomonee River. “One minute it was raining, the next my driveway was a waterfall.”
The NWS confirmed rainfall totals of more than six inches in multiple areas, with Butler recording 10 inches — and one Milwaukee neighborhood measuring a staggering 13 inches.
At Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport, floodwaters swamped every runway but one. “We were effectively an island,” an airport spokesperson told local reporters. “Operations had to be scaled back to emergency-only.”
Flights were delayed or canceled as crews worked through the night to pump water away from the tarmac.
The Wisconsin State Fair was in full swing when the storms hit. By 10 p.m., officials announced an emergency closure over the loudspeakers:
“Attention Fairgoers! The State Fair Park is closing. Please use caution as you make your way to the nearest exit.”
Concertgoers expecting to see Lynyrd Skynyrd found themselves wading shin-deep through muddy water instead. FOX6 Chief Meteorologist Tom Wachs captured surreal footage of children splashing in the flooded fairgrounds while drenched visitors clung to umbrellas, pushing toward the exits.
Fair organizers confirmed Sunday morning that the grounds would remain closed indefinitely due to flood damage.
We Energies reported about 45,000 customers without power by dawn Sunday. Downed trees were scattered across Menomonee Falls, and basements across Milwaukee County were underwater.
The NWS urged residents to avoid driving altogether. “Turn around, don’t drown,” warned NWS meteorologist Benjamin Sheppard. “Most flood deaths happen in vehicles.”
Sheppard also warned the situation could worsen:
“This first round of storms has been unpredictable. We could see more intense rainfall Sunday night.”
As of Sunday morning, Muscoda and Boscobel had already received more than three inches of additional rainfall — with another one to three inches possible. Emergency crews are on standby as Wisconsin braces for another night of heavy downpours.
“This is the worst flooding I’ve seen in my lifetime,” said Carol Peters, a Milwaukee native surveying her waterlogged street. “And the scary part? It’s not over.”
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Cloud seeding?
Must be in a floodplain or the city is run by demonRats – your choice.
Sudden flooding happening everywhere, and it’s time we starting looking into the weather manipulators, cloud seeding is a real thing. This is not about climate change, this is a repeated occurrence of storms that come out of nowhere. Maui, California, Texas, and now this. They found the chemicals in the soil in North Carolina that are used to cloud seed. Since cloud seeding is not precise nor can it be controlled, it should be BANNED!!!!