MILWAUKEE -- Monday afternoon's heavy rains caused headaches all across the area. Many roads had several inches of water, forcing motorists to find other ways.
But it wasn't just the roadways hit hard. The flash floods caused some buildings to have standing water including the Capitol Library on 74th and Capitol Drive.
"This is sort of where, when Capitol Drive floods, the water comes in through here," Eileen Force-Cahill, Community Relations Director for the Milwaukee Public Library said. The location of the Capitol Library is in a spot where water tends to pool. After heavy rainfalls, they usually get some sort of flooding.
"Everyone sort of realized, it was going to be fast and furious," Force-Cahill said. "About an hour into it, we realized there was some flooding coming into the Capitol Branch."
Luckily, none of the 50,000 materials in the library were affected. Most of the books, DVDs, CDs and other materials are high enough off the ground to not be affected. The library closed around 4:00 p.m. Monday but Force-Cahill says it was imperative they be open on time today since so many people depend on the library.
"It will be a matter of sopping up a lot of wet carpets today and opening for business as usual," Force-Cahill said. "We are the largest [summer reading] program in the city. We serve about 25,000 kids."
The Capitol Branch is one of the libraries slated for redevelopment. The Milwaukee Public Library is looking for a new location to break ground in 2020. One of the main things they'll look for in a new location is whether it will flood or not.
