Enough already, Mother Nature

Muskego — Suzi Link was in the basement of her Lannon Drive home in Muskego because of the tornado warning last week when her basement drain suddenly spewed sewer water.

Her husband leaped into action, stuffing the drain. But then the diluted sewage just spurted from another drain.

"As we stuffed towels in one, it gushed up in another drain," Link said.

It came up in the floor drains, the toilet, and the shower and sink drains, all in the walk-out basement.

The Links left one drain unstuffed because they were afraid the water would rise to the first floor.

The sewer water rose to 3 inches in the basement before the couple decided they had no choice but to open the patio doors and start bailing.

"I paddled like I was in a canoe," said Link, who had to sit for health reasons. Her husband swept with a broom.

Link said her losses include carpeting, a sofa, TV, VCR, two computer monitors, files and clothing.

Pair of subdivisions hit hard

The Link home was not the only one affected by sewer backups in the torrential downpour July 22.

Many people in the Parkland subdivision, basically north of the Parkland Drive/Briargate Lane/Lannon Drive area, were hit by sewer backups, Muskego Mayor John Johnson said.

That was the same area that was slammed by a tornado June 21, just a month earlier.

This time, a sewer line broke on Lannon and Briargate, Johnson said.

The other area that was hard-hit with sewer backups was the Freedom Acres subdivision located off McShane and Durham drives in the southeast corner of the city, Johnson said. The million-gallon tank the city installed more than six years ago to deal with sewage backups overflowed with rainwater, he said.

Other areas just dealt with flooding. Portions of Saroyan Road and Ancient Oaks Drive were under 3 feet of water, Johnson said.

Muskego received an estimated 6 inches of rain that fell as fast as 2 inches per hour, he said.

New Berlin fared better

The story was not so gloomy in New Berlin, where the rainfall total was 3.8 inches.

About a foot of water covered Courtland Parkway and Cherry Tree Lane, said Chuck Trevorrow, New Berlin streets and stormwater supervisor. And once again, 124th Street flooded between Lincoln and Cleveland avenues and at Meadow Lane, he said.

Lake-size puddles also formed on smaller streets that had to be closed, but all streets were open by Friday morning.

There were no reports of sewer backups, but many trees were downed, Trevorrow said.

A huge willow tree blocked Radisson Drive at Menard Drive. Lightening is believed to have knocked down another tree on Meadow Lane, he said. And other trees were damaged or destroyed throughout the city.

Cleanup continues

The cleanup continues in both communities this week.

As of Monday, Muskego crews were still bypassing sewage around the break in the pipe affecting the Parkland subdivision, Johnson said. Officials planned to dig up Lannon Drive to fix the pipe Wednesday, depending on weather, he said. That would be good news for Joe and Kathy Lesak who live in the 7200 block of South Lannon Drive.

They are cleaning a layer of black, sticky and smelly crud from their basement.

They found sewer water up to the first step in their walk-out basement during Thursday's storm.

"If we had not seen it, it would have flooded the whole house," it was coming out of the drain with such force, Kathy Lesak said. "There was no stopping it."

Joe opened the patio doors to let the water drain out. The sewer water gushed all night, Kathy said. It did not really subside until Friday afternoon.

The city used to have insurance that would help cover such losses, Johnson said. But officials dropped it a couple of years ago because of the expense, he said, instead advising residents to get private sewer backup insurance.

Waukesha County is working on an application to the Federal Emergency Management Agency for grants and low-interest loans to help with storm recovery, Johnson said.

At a Glance

How to get rid of debris:

• The Veolia Environmental Services landfill, 10629 S. 124th St., will be open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. through Friday and from 8 a.m. to noon Saturday.

• Those with debris not collected at the road during regular pickup can call Veolia for a free pickup at (262) 679-0860.