On this particular evening (July 22....so you know now. I don't keep exactly up to date with this blog, but I'm trying!), Madelyn and I were headed to Bayshore Mall. Casey had come home from work earlier due to thunder storms. Although the sun was shining, he said more storms were in the forecast. I asked him if he thought I should leave Madelyn at home or if it was fine to take her. He didn't seem worried and said to take her along if I wanted. I hadn't watched television all day. I don't know if they were warning how terrible it was really going to be out.
So Madelyn and I headed out to find a gift for Addison's 4th birthday. I purposely parked in the parking structure attached to the mall with the thought that it may be raining when we leave. This way Madelyn (nor I) would get wet. Thinking I was rather smart, we headed in to do our shopping. I quickly picked out a gift.....beads for making your own necklace and a kit to decorate a jewelry box. Madelyn was being so content, and I hadn't shopped for myself in FOREVER. I decided to look around the mall just briefly. At one point, the store employee asked a customer if it was raining out yet. He replied that it wasn't but it looked "TERRIBLE" out. This should have been a red flag to me to get out of there. Instead I thought, let's wait this out. Severe weather usually is bad but passes quickly. We have three weddings this Fall, and I decided to look for a dress to wear. As we shopped the lights flickered on and off, and I began to notice store employees mopping up water in various shops. We went to an enterance/exit and could barely see out. We had now been at the mall over 2 hours and bedtime was quickly approaching. I knew we really needed to get home. I called Casey to get some advice. He told me the interstate was closed and we had lost power at home. He said he had no way to really tell me what was happening out. He said he thought it was supposed to storm all night, and I may not be able to "wait it out". We worked out a route for me to make it home.
I stood at the exit to the parking ramp for about five minutes debating. There was at least 2-3 inches of standing water in the ramp. People were coming into the mall joking that they'd have to buy dry socks to wear. I still don't know why not one person said, "Hey lady with a little baby, it's TERRIBLE out there. Don't go. Stay in the safety of the mall!!!" All I can think is that I left at the WORST time possible.
Madelyn and I made it to our car. My feet were soaked, but I still had no real idea what was going on outside. I pulled out of the ramp and immediately thought, "What am I doing?!" I could barely see it was raining so hard. I was driving through water as high as midwheel. There was no telling which street was flooded or not until you were driving on it. I had to stop at lights in all of the water. I keep thinking this is so bad. What am I going to do. I made it two blocks and turned onto my intended route (Port Washington Drive). The street was completely flooded. Cars where stuck in water half way up the car door. I pulled into a parking lot...happened to be the La Quinta Hotel. I figured it was a good place to wait because we could go inside if we needed. However when I tried to get to the carport that was flooded as well. I climbed into the back seat with tears rolling down my face. Madelyn was crying too. I took her out of her car seat and nursed her. Reason #459 to Breastfed....you can do it during a flood. We listened to the radio and heard the tornado sirens going off. I was scared, but knew waiting it out here was our safest option. And wait we did. We waited about 45 minutes until the rain stopped and I could see the road flooding had decreased. We then began our journey home. The two routes that I was most familiar with were both closed. So I headed East toward the lake. I didn't know if Lake Drive would be open, but I hoped. Me along with hundreds of other drivers. What should have taken 10 minutes to get home, took over an hour. But we were driving safely along on flood free streets. Madelyn cried the entire time. It was long past her bedtime by this point. We finally made it within a mile of home and we were rerouted again. The next morning I learned that there was a sink whole on North Avenue. The news highlighted two extremely hard hit streets.....Madelyn and I were on both of them.
We didn't have power for five hours which was okay....other than the fact I was worried about my 100 oz supply of frozen breastmilk thawing and going bad. We were home safely. It was all that mattered!
Here is a video of the East side of Milwaukee, about one mile from our house. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7fOFXTXdFU Milwaukee received approximately 8 inches of rain in less than 2 hours.
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