WAUWATOSA, Wis. — A year ago, torrential rain and historic flooding threatened to wipe out Wauwatosa East High School's football season before it even began. Now, the Red Raiders are back on their home field.
Last August, a 1,000-year flood tore through Southeast Wisconsin, and Hart Park was far from spared. The football field was completely submerged, turf buckled under the water, and the surrounding area was left in ruins.
Head coach Tom Swittel said his first thought when he saw the damage was that the season was over.
WATCH: One year after a 1,000-year flood, football is back at Hart Park
"The only thing that I could think of at that time was our season's over."
His fears deepened when he turned his attention to the team's locker room building.
"All I could see was how high the water was on our building that houses our locker room, and I thought everything in there is destroyed."
But as the waters receded, the news was better than expected.
"My athletic director said, 'Well, do you want the good news or the bad news?' I said, 'Give me the bad news.' 'There's dead fish all over the field and on the track.' And I said, 'Okay, what's the good news?' He goes, 'None of our equipment in the building was ruined.'"
The team cleared out the locker room and moved operations up to the school, but the challenges were far from over. Limited field availability pushed practices late into the evening, and the Red Raiders were forced to play their home games at rival Wauwatosa West.
Senior Sam Paulsen said the arrangement was tough to accept.
"Taking the bus up to our rival football field to play, quote on quote home games, that was very difficult."
Senior quarterback Louie Fox said the experience was unlike anything most teams face — but that Swittel kept the group focused.
"He really inspired us throughout those tough times, and he never, he never gave up, and he really showed us like what it takes to stick through it."
Swittel said the outpouring of community support helped carry the program through what he called a tragedy.
"There is just a lot of outpouring of support from so many different people that made, really I'll call it a tragedy what happened to our season last year with the flood, and everything, made it a lot easier for us, and I'll always remember those people for all the things that they did for us."
Fox said the adversity brought the team closer.
"Not many football teams will go through what we did, you know?"
Now, with football back at Hart Park, Paulsen said the experience changed how he sees every practice.
"For me it just makes me more grateful to be able to practice on this field every single day."
This story was reported on-air by a journalist 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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