Water Damage Restoration in Milwaukee, WI

Milwaukee's water damage environment is defined by its position at the convergence of Lake Michigan's enormous weather-generating surface, three urban rivers — the Milwaukee, Menomonee, and Kinnickinnic — and one of the Midwest's most documented combined sewer overflow systems. Lake Michigan nor'easters — storm systems that track northeast across the Great Lakes and generate onshore winds against Milwaukee's 38-mile Lake Michigan shoreline — produce wave heights of 8 to 14 feet and storm surge conditions that threaten lakefront property from Bay View in the south through Whitefish Bay and Shorewood in the north. The three rivers that run through the city's historic industrial landscape carry combined watershed drainage from Milwaukee, Waukesha, and Washington Counties, and during major rainfall events of 3 to 5 inches, all three rivers simultaneously flood the lower-elevation neighborhoods of the near west side, Bay View, and the Menomonee Valley. The Kinnickinnic River's 2010 flooding event — which rose 6.5 feet in 4 hours during a 7-inch rainfall — became the catalyst for the $75 million Kinnickinnic River restoration project that is now partially complete. Milwaukee's bungalow housing stock, with finished basements used as primary family living space, concentrates water damage costs in high-value below-grade areas throughout the older city.