Severe storms knock out power, flood roads
Severe thunderstorms dropped nearly three inches of rain and knocked out power to thousands across the Milwaukee metro area Monday afternoon.
About 17,000 We Energies customers lost power, with the majority in the city of Milwaukee.
Combined sanitary and storm sewers overflowed to Milwaukee’s rivers and Lake Michigan as heavy rains flooded streets and quickly filled the deep tunnel.
The first combined sewer overflows since September 2016 started about 3:50 p.m. after 2.8 inches of rain had been measured at North 36th Street and West Fond du Lac Avenue and 2 inches of rain had fallen in Shorewood.
Intersections and streets flooded as cars slowly splashed through, sending up large sprays of water. The evening commute was somewhat of a mess, with high travel times reported across the region’s freeway system.
As the storms moved through, the National Weather Service issued severe thunderstorm warnings for a number of counties across southeast Wisconsin. It also issued an urban and small stream flood advisory for Milwaukee and eastern Waukesha counties.
Meanwhile, Gov. Scott Walker declared a state of emergency in northwestern Wisconsin after severe thunderstorms, damaging winds and large hail last weekend damaged roads and bridges, downed trees and power lines and closed highways. The state of emergency was declared in Ashland, Bayfield, Burnett, Douglas and Iron counties.
Milwaukee police responded to numerous calls of flooding and traffic hazards Monday while Milwaukee firefighters responded to numerous reports of downed wires.
Lightning set fire to a house in the 15300 block of West Grange Avenue in New Berlin. The occupants escaped safely. In Greendale, a house in the 4900 block of Seton Place was struck by lightning. There was no fire and no injuries.
Two Milwaukee Public Library branches shut down. The Capitol branch on North 74th Street closed because of flooding in the area and inside the building, and the Washington Park branch on North Sherman Boulevard lost power.
We Energies called in all available repair crews to handle power outages caused mostly by falling trees and vegetation as well as lightning strikes, said spokeswoman Cathy Schulze.
The deep tunnel had captured 307 million gallons of wastewater from combined sewer overflows, or 70% of its 432-million-gallon capacity, and flows were continuing to pour in when gates started closing and overflows were diverted to local waterways, Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District Executive Director Kevin Shafer said.
The tunnel held 338 million gallons, or 78% of capacity, at 5:05 p.m.
Overflows of untreated wastewater to the rivers were started as an emergency measure to prevent sewage backups into residential and commercial businesses, Shafer said.
“There are reports of sewer manholes popping off, leaving open holes in the street that lead directly into the sewer system,” MMSD said on its “weather center” website.