Flood warning issued for the metro area as Milwaukee sets record for single-day rain in February

Beck Andrew Salgado, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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The National Weather Service has upgraded the Milwaukee metro area from a flood advisory to a flood warning. This comes as reports of flooding have come from West Allis, Wauwatosa, Racine and various parts of Waukesha County.

The warning will last until 6:30 p.m. on Monday and comes as consistent heavy rainfall has been seen across southeast Wisconsin.

In Milwaukee, the all-time single-day rain record for February was broken with 2.02 inches as of 12:52 p.m. The previous single-day record was 1.81" set on Feb. 21, 1913.

"The rain today did set a new record and seeing this much rain is especially impressive for the wintertime," said Aiden Kuroski, a NWS meteorologist.

Flood warnings are the most severe classification the NWS can make about rain. Kuroski said the decision to issue the flood warning on Monday afternoon was made after numerous reports of flooding and also because the weather service anticipates that the snow cover will make it more difficult for flooding to recede.

The rain is expected to continue off and on for the next several hours so the weather service says the threat of flooding will continue for small streams, low-lying areas and urban areas where drains and downspouts may have been blocked or clogged by snow.

The Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District said Milwaukee's combined sewers were opened up for overflow into local bodies of water late Monday morning, after more than 2 inches of rain fell in some areas.

MMSD has the ability to allow overflows to happen in order to prevent sewage backups into homes and businesses. Overflows are used after MMSD's Deep Tunnel fills during heavy rain and more water is flowing into the treatment plants than can be processed.

MMSD has asked Milwaukeeans to try and minimize the amount of water they are using during the storm and suggested waiting to do laundry and taking shorter showers as easy ways to help.

Milwaukee weather radar

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Flood warning now issued for the Milwaukee metro area