Edgar Mendez is walking around his block in the Clarke Square neighborhood. He’s pointing out all the damage that still litters his block one year after Milwaukee’s historic floods.
“This house, the basement actually collapsed,” says Mendez. “There was a big opening on the side where those boards are and basically garbage from the whole neighborhood was floating into his basement.”
The night of the August 2025 floods, Mendez and his family went to the ballgame and watched the Brewers beat the Mets 7-4. Coming home, the rain was pouring. Some streets were already flooding. But the water hadn’t reached his neighborhood — at least not yet.
“My wife looks out the window and says, ‘The cars!’” Mendez recalls. “She comes running to the door and we see our car is half submerged in the water already.”…