WEST ALLIS, Wis. — More than 100 residents at Element 84 apartments in West Allis are dealing with destroyed cars and ongoing power outages following severe flooding that hit southeast Wisconsin earlier this week.
The flooding filled the building's garage within hours on Saturday night, leaving residents without power since Sunday. While electricity has been restored to common areas, individual units remain in the dark as of Thursday.
"It's been pretty much a nightmare," Neil Vallely, who lives at Element 84, said.
Vallely described how quickly the situation deteriorated Saturday night. "I got home by like 11:30 and I would say by 1:45 that whole garage must've been filled."
Watch: West Allis residents still without power days after flooding
"In the almost four years I've been here, the power has never gone out, so this is a new building, and as soon as it did, I knew this was serious," Vallely said.
Residents have expressed frustration with what they describe as inconsistent communication from property management regarding when power might be restored to their units.
"They weren't forthcoming with, 'we don't know how long this could take, it could take five days, it could take, two weeks, we don't know,'" Vallely said. "Telling me that it'll be on tomorrow, or the next day several times and keep pushing it back."
Vallely lost his car in the flooding and has been staying at a hotel since Sunday since he still has no power in his unit.
"I'm a reasonable person, but at some point even I have to consider moving out. And you know, I would hope that there would be some sort of refund on my rent at the very least," Vallely explained.
In an email to residents, management stated: "There will absolutely be some sort of compensation for our residents, we just do not know what this looks like yet." They also advised residents to hold off on paying September rent for now.
Vallely remains skeptical about the compensation process. "In writing is good. There's no stipulations in it whatsoever, what percentage, how much," he said. "I know there will be all kinds of additional issues and problems, no one's just gonna cut me a check."
Management told us by phone Friday they are paying for and providing temporary housing for all impacted residents.
This story was reported on-air by Jenna Rae and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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