WEST ALLIS, WI — Residents at Element 84 apartment complex in West Allis are still without power as of Tuesday afternoon, days after severe flooding submerged vehicles and damaged the building's electrical systems.
The scene at the complex has been dominated by tow trucks removing damaged vehicles from the property, as dozens of cars were left underwater during Saturday night's flooding.
Watch: West Allis apartment complex still without power after weekend flooding
"The electrical system was completely fried, had to manually open the car. Kinda at that point kind of realized there was no coming back," said Chas Ferm, a resident whose black Ford was submerged under feet of water.
Video taken during the flooding shows only the top of Ferm's car visible above the water.
"Safe to say it's been a pretty miserable week, the mood hasn't been spectacular — but we're doing our best," Ferm said.
Beyond vehicle damage, residents have been dealing with power outages in their apartments since Saturday night.
"It's completely dark in there, you know, almost 80 degrees, even if you wanted to tough it out and stay overnight, there's just no way," Ferm said.
Images from the complex's underground garage reveal the extent of the flooding damage.
A representative from Ogden Development Group, which owns the building, said contractors are actively working to restore power, but provided no definitive timeline for when residents might expect electricity to return.
The representative also noted that renters insurance is required of all tenants and that management is working with residents through the claims process.
However, according to FEMA, many standard renters' insurance plans typically don't cover flooding damage.
Through FEMA, renters can apply for short-term lodging expenses, costs for renting housing, and for replacing or repairing vehicles, but that aid only becomes available after a presidential disaster declaration. As of Tuesday, a FEMA spokesperson said they haven't received any requests for aid.
"FEMA, through our regional office in Chicago, has been closely monitoring the impacts of the recent Milwaukee area flooding," wrote a FEMA spokesperson on Tuesday. "We remain in close contact with state officials who, in support of local emergency management officials, are currently handling the response to this event."
Despite the challenges, Ferm remains resilient.
"Trying to stay as positive as I can, roll with the punches," he said.
This story was reported on-air by Brendyn Jones 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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