Flood Damage Rises As Community Waits For President Trump to Help

County Executive David Crowley observes flood damage to Oak Leaf Trail in Wauwatosa. Photo taken Aug. 25, 2025 by Graham Kilmer.

As the damage estimates from the cataclysmic August flooding continue to rise, everyone affected waits for a decision from President Donald Trump.

On Aug. 27th, Gov. Tony Evers formally requested a Presidential Disaster Declaration. A spokesperson for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) told Urban Milwaukee the request is being processed and there is “no set timeline for a decision.”

FEMA officials have already finished a preliminary assessment of the damage. They began a verification process for public infrastructure damage Monday.

Just days after Evers petitioned the Trump administration for help, the estimated cost of damage to public assets in Milwaukee County rose significantly, outstripping even the estimates the governor provided for damage across six counties from the once-in-1,000 year flooding that occurred on Aug. 9-10.

On Aug. 26 Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley reported the latest countywide estimates were approximately $34 million, but by Aug. 29 the estimate was $52 million, according to a report from the county’s Office of Emergency Management (OEM), which has coordinated much of the local response to the disaster.

On Aug. 29, Crowley signed onto a letter urging the president to issue a disaster declaration, joined by Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson, Waukesha County Executive Paul Farrow and Washington County Executive Josh Schoemann. As of Sept. 9, Crowley’s office still has not heard back from the federal government regarding a potential declaration.

“Residents in Milwaukee County and throughout Southeastern Wisconsin have already lost so much in the wake of these recent, unprecedented floods. Without federal assistance, the road to recovery only becomes more difficult,” Crowley said in a statement on Sept. 5. “I am urging President Trump to stand with the people of Wisconsin by quickly approving a major disaster declaration. Our community has shown so much resilience these past few weeks, but the scale of this disaster goes far beyond what local and state resources can handle alone.”

The hardest hit public entities were the City of Milwaukee, the City of West Allis, the City of Wauwatosa and the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District (MMSD), said OEM Deputy Director Chris McGowan, during a meeting of the Milwaukee County Board’s Committee on Judiciary, Law Enforcement and General Services. The sewerage district owns and operates the combined sewer system and much of the regional floodwater infrastructure. Its massive retention reservoirs prevented the flooding from being worse, McGowan said.

The county doesn’t yet have hard estimates for damage to private property, in part due to the different municipal processes for damage assessment,  McGowan said.

But the losses are likely extensive. In a letter to the president, Gov. Tony Evers reported that damage to just three private businesses — Milwaukee Repertory Theater, Hansen Company and MKE Trucking — was estimated at $25 to $30 million. In Waukesha County, total losses both public and private were estimated at more than $100 million. The governor’s letter incorporated a request for six counties that suffered flooding.

“And Milwaukee County was the hardest hit by far, by a long ways,” McGowan said.

There are currently three teams of FEMA inspectors pouring over the county’s data and verifying it in the community, McGowan said.

In many cases, Milwaukee County and municipalities are not waiting for federal assistance to repair critical public infrastructure, like roadways, bridges and sewers, McGowan said. In the event federal assistance is provided, these expenses will be reimbursed.

As everyone awaits a decision from the president, Sup. Justin Bielinski expressed skepticism federal assistance would arrive soon, or at all.

“I don’t have a lot of faith that we’re going to get a lot of federal assistance,” Bielinski said. “Just given what the President chooses to spend his time doing.”

McGowan said OEM is confident the county will receive federal assistance.

“From what we’re being told about the gravity of this event… we feel there’s high probability that we’ll get a disaster declaration,” McGowan said.

FEMA officials have indicated the damage in Milwaukee is some of the worst in the country this year, McGowan said

“They don’t see that damage profile, except for hurricanes,” McGowan said. “And so they were blown away at how a flood had done this much damage.”