MILWAUKEE — The familiar sound of industrial fans has filled households across southeast Wisconsin for weeks as restoration crews work to repair nearly 1,000 homes damaged in the Aug. 10 flooding.
Tom Vanden Boom with Paul Davis said the company is restoring about 960 homes after the heavy rainfall and floods that hit the region.
"I have never seen an event like this in my time," Vanden Boom said.
Paul Davis trucks have become a familiar sight in many neighborhoods as crews work around the clock to help flood victims. At the height of the disaster, the company was receiving calls at an unprecedented rate.
Watch: Restoration company sees high volume of calls with about 1,600 customers still waiting for help
"It's been quite the last couple of weeks. It's been nonstop. At the height, we were averaging four calls a minute," Vanden Boom said.
One of those calls came from Jason Wertz, who was vacationing in Hawaii when his sump pump started to back up.
"I was able to get somebody here the next morning, which was huge," Wertz said.
Wertz estimates about a foot of water flooded his finished basement while he was out of town.
"Just a few hours into the storm, there were about six or seven inches into it. But we don't know totally, because we were out of town. We think about a foot," Wertz said.
The flood water ruined much of his finished basement and filled a dumpster with belongings.
"We had insulation in the wall, and that insulation absorbed a lot of water, so we really wanted to get away from having mold or any mildew down the road," Wertz said.
Timing is critical in flood restoration, according to Vanden Boom.
"Timing is everything. The quicker we can get on a project, get to somebody's home and start the drying process, the more likely we are to save products, whether it's flooring, personal property, but timing is everything," he said.
Despite the company's efforts, Paul Davis still has a waitlist of about 1,600 people hoping to get their homes restored.
"We're trying to service everybody. We're trying to call everyone back, we're trying to answer every phone call. It's a daunting task. We're still working through it," Vanden Boom said.
For customers like Wertz, the company's commitment has made a difficult situation more manageable.
"Just knowing the promises they have made have been fulfilled makes this a little bit easier to deal with," Wertz said.
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