Wauwatosa residents helped neighbors, family evacuate as waters rose in weekend storm
The river waters rose quickly overnight Aug. 9, forcing homeowners in the area to evacuate with the help of family or by rescue boat. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel spoke with some residents who live on the parkway near West Burleigh.
Meteorologists calculated that the two-day storm caused a 1,000-year flood, meaning that there was a 1 in a 1000 chance of it occurring in any year.
A box of baseball cards Eric Truss had collected over the last few years sat on his driveway as he and his wife Karly brought items out of their basement the afternoon of Aug. 11.
They sheltered with Eric's mom in West Allis Aug. 9, and returned home to water that had risen to their basement ceiling and up the stairs. They had the basement's power turned off before going down to assess the damage.
Computers, desks, a washer and dryer were among the belongings in the muddied basement that were wrecked in the storm. A homemade Father's Day card from the couple's 4-year-old child sat on a table. By the light of a phone flashlight, Karly could see the couple's wedding book on the muddy, wet floor in one basement corner.
"No more feeling sad about a book of pictures," Karly said a moment after seeing the book.
The one thing Eric wanted to recover? His wedding ring, which was somewhere in the wreckage, he said.
"We'll find it," Karly told him.
Son rescues his 84-year-old mother from flooding
A few doors down, the children and granddaughter of 84-year-old Janet Mazzone were busy removing soaked carpets from the first floor rooms in hopes of avoiding mold growth.
Her son Donald Mazzone helped his mom escape from the rising waters around their home in the early hours of Sunday, Aug. 10, but not before he himself almost nearly got trapped in his downstairs bedroom.
Mazzone woke up around 1 a.m. to the sound of water flowing and came upstairs to tell his mom they needed to leave.
"The basement's flooding again, like it did in '97," he remembers telling her. They quickly learned they had much less time to leave than they had during the last historic flood they'd experienced.
Mazzone grabbed his wallet and phone and realized he needed to go back downstairs into the basement for the medicine he takes for his high blood pressure. He returned downstairs to about an inch of water and his wardrobe that held his medicine turned over in the pool of it, he said.
"My medicine was floating away from me, and I was able to grab a couple bottles," Mazzone said.
Then the room's egress window, which is meant for a safer exit in case of emergencies, broke from the pressure of the water outside, and more water flooded into the room. He tried to open the door to leave, but it wouldn't budge.
"I was trapped," he said. The water kept rising, first up to his knees and then to his waist.
Mazzone climbed through the window and went back into the house through the front door to help his mother evacuate through the back of the house. She pointed her son toward a small gap in the backyard fence, and they squeezed through it to get to safety up the hill on West Argonne Drive.
Carrie Mazzone, Donald's sister, said her mom lived in the home for decades with her dad Robert Mazzone until he passed away June 1.
Her dad canceled the home's flood insurance after being told one too many times that a flood like the one that brought basement damage in 1997 wouldn't happen again, Carrie said.
Even as the siblings cleaned out the damaged house, signs of their dad remained.
A picture he proudly photoshopped of himself as the pope was hanging on the fridge. His favorite recliner chair that he would sit in every day was wet, but still in the living room.
"He loved his chair, I'm hoping we can save it," Carrie said.
The Mazzone family called 211 to submit a damage report. Every company they've called to do recovery work is busy, Carrie said.
Felt 'like watching 20 years of hard work disappear in 20 minutes'
It was around 3 a.m. Aug. 10 when Latasha, Derek and their 21-year-old daughter Taniya Dula decided they needed to evacuate their home along the parkway. Their next-door neighbor, who is in her 80s, called to alert them that the homes were surrounded by about a foot of water.
They looked in their basement and found it completely submerged.
"All the water was up to the ceiling in the basement," Taniya said. "We just saw all our stuff floating."
Derek jumped into action, helping his wife and daughter remain calm and grab the essentials ― passports, IDs, and money.
They left through a window and got to safety. But their elderly neighbor was still in her home. They called 911 to help get her evacuated, and rescue crews came through on a boat. They attempted to get her out twice, but she was scared to get in the vessel, Latasha said.
"I can't leave her," Derek said. He went back into the flood waters and drove a Jeep Wrangler over to pick her up himself. The car itself was filled with water, and the pair drove through flood waters and across neighbors' lawns to safety. They then took their neighbor to a hotel nearby.
The Dulas' first floor was damaged along with the basement, where they spent much of their family time. When Taniya returns to college in the fall, Derek and Latasha will live in their RV while working on fixing up the house.
"It's like watching 20 years of hard work disappear in 20 minutes," Latasha said.
More: Flood debris pickups, drop-offs and more resources for Milwaukee County and suburbs
As they cleared out their homes, residents wondered how much the damage would cost them
Like his neighbors, Kevin Knitter wondered how much the damages will cost his family as they brought the contents of his basement and his daughter's first floor room onto his driveway.
According to Knitter, he and his wife Katie's home was not located in a floodplain when they bought it, playing a role in their decision not to purchase flood insurance. But the maps changed in 2024, so their home is now technically located on a floodplain. They learned that when they Googled it after the flood.
The Knitters evacuated through their front door and onto a rescue boat with their daughter, two dogs and goldfish. Their friend started a Go Fund Me to help offset recovery costs.
More: Kayaker rescued from Menomonee River; City of Wauwatosa moves to damage assessment
More: Not many people in Wisconsin have flood insurance. Here's what to know about how it works.
Gov. Tony Evers declared a state of emergency Aug. 11 after several Wisconsin communities continue to recover from flash flooding and storms from over the weekend.
Emergency declarations are made based on damage assessments and the request of local partners, according to the governor's office. That declaration is a major part of the process for the state to receive assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, also known as FEMA.
To receive federal aid once a state declaration is made, damage must exceed a certain threshold to qualify, which officials are still determining.
The City of Wauwatosa is posting updates on its website about the city's recovery efforts.
Bridget Fogarty covers Brookfield, Wauwatosa and Elm Grove for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. She can be contacted at bfogarty@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: 'I was trapped': Tosa residents recount rescue efforts during flood
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