Men Still Missing from Riverside Homeless Camp After Flooding

Homeless outreach workers want police to do more to search for individuals in Milwaukee who are still missing after historic flooding hit the area.

There were two drowning victims found after the storm, according to the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s office. That includes a 48-year-old man who was found in Lake Michigan on the morning of Aug. 10 and a 72-year-old man who was found in the Kinnickinnic River on Aug. 13.

Two other men — Miguel Flores and a man known as “Angel” — have also not been seen or heard from since the storm, according to homeless outreach workers.

All four men had been living at a homeless encampment under a bridge next to the Kinnickinnic River in Milwaukee. The river rose from 6 feet to about 17 feet during historic rainfall that occurred on Aug. 9 and 10, according to a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel report.

So far, a missing persons report has been filed only for Flores. On Monday, a spokesperson for the Milwaukee Police Department said Flores was still missing and that the department’s harbor patrol “continues to be vigilant to look for any bodies on land adjacent to water and in the water during their water patrol duties.”

“We have checked the water and continue to check the water as long as the season permits,” the spokesperson wrote in an email.

Flores, 59, was reported missing on Aug. 14. Family members and volunteers held a search for him along the river Aug. 23.

Now, nearly two months after the storm, Arturo Vazquez believes his uncle is dead.

“I know my mom’s struggling a lot,” Vazquez said. “She sits there and cries often and then just asks, like, ‘Why isn’t anybody doing anything?’”

Vazquez said he believes police are not “actively searching” for his uncle.

“Any kind of help would have been nice from them (the police),” Vazquez said.

The department’s spokesperson wrote that as of Monday, “no one that witnessed this incident has reported to police that they observed this individual get swept by the water.”

Even so, Vazquez said he believes his uncle drowned. He said volunteers found some of his clothing during the search of the river Aug. 23.

“We know that he was there because obviously we still haven’t seen him since that day,” Vazquez said.

Linda Alvarado, cofounder of MiniStreets Urban Christian Outreach Mission, also said she believes police are not making a “concentrated effort” to find Flores or “Angel.”

“I think if there was an effort put in to really search for them, I think our chances of finding them would definitely have been greater and possible,” Alvarado said.

“I don’t believe we should give up on a missing loved one until we know the answers,” she added.

During a Milwaukee Fire and Police Commission meeting Thursday, commissioner Krissie Fung asked police officials about their search efforts so far.

“I understand that there was some members of the public that were perhaps fairly upset that MPD was declining to look for individuals that may potentially have been swept away during the flooding,” Fung said.

MPD Chief of Staff Heather Hough said people told the department other individuals from the encampment were missing, but they weren’t able to provide a full name for those individuals.

“It’s tricky, and that’s a really complex situation where we have to have some identifying information to consider somebody a missing person and to take a missing persons report,” Hough said during the meeting.

Sarah Young, vice president of the homeless outreach group Mr. Bob’s Under the Bridge, often saw people from the encampment during outreach events at a nearby park. Young said police told her they’d need the first and last name and date of birth for “Angel” in order to file a missing persons report.

“It’s very tone deaf when you’re speaking out about people who are homeless,” Young said. “We don’t keep a record of every single person’s first and last name because that’s kind of intrusive.”

Young said she believes police should change their policy so missing persons reports can be filed even if an address or full name isn’t known.

“I think you could probably do a missing persons report with a person’s name in quotes, as well,” Young said.

Listen to the WPR report

Men still missing from riverside homeless encampment after August flooding was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.