How's your basement? More storms in the forecast means continued flooding concerns

Heavy rains create problems throughout Milwaukee County

Heavy rains create problems throughout Milwaukee County

MILWAUKEE (WITI) -- How's your basement? More storms overnight Tuesday and early Wednesday morning -- and they brought with them strong winds and torrential rainfall. The heavy rains led to flash flooding in and around Milwaukee.

The rain pounded the pavement overnight Tuesday and into Wednesday morning, and even when it let up for a moment, the downpour would return, again and again.

The heavy rainfall for a second night in a row has led to flooding concerns.

A fallen tree blocked the road at 48th and Calumet.

Meanwhile, water from flash floods caused cars to float near Locust and Fond du Lac.

"Blew all the manholes -- six, seven, eight manholes blew up," a neighbor told FOX6 News.

It can be a problem when too much water and air builds up in a storm sewer.

Bill Graffin with the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District (MMSD) says there's another problem all the rain can create.

"A lot of rain very quickly -- and that's a bad combination for any sewer system in the country. It overwhelmed the system and we had to have a combined sewer overflow to reduce the risk of basement backups," Graffin said.

Graffin says around 2:30 a.m., the deep tunnel was filling up quickly and untreated storm and sanitary sewer water was dumped into waterways.

While the flash flooding subsided, the threat that looms ahead has not. More rain is in the forecast.

"The system's full. We're treating everything as fast as we can. Trying to pump the tunnel out as fast as we can, but you can't pump the tunnel out when the treatment plants are already at maximum capacity," Graffin said.

FOX6's Weather Team says scattered thunderstorms are possible Wednesday night and Thursday -- and a decent chance for storms is in the forecast every day through Saturday.