WAUWATOSA, Wis. (CBS 58) — Next week marks the one-year anniversary of one of our area's worst floods ever, and Wauwatosa took some of the heaviest damage along the Menomonee River.
This week, CBS 58 is airing a series of reports about how the area is recovering. CBS 58's Jenna Wells started the series at Wauwatosa's Hart Park.
Nearly a year ago, the flooding across Hart Park was extreme, and Wauwatosa city leaders said that meant the park was working as designed.
Hart Park opened in 2007 as a Milwaukee-Metropolitan Sewerage District flood management project.
It was intentionally designed to store floodwater during major storms, with a goal to minimize the damage to nearby homes and businesses.
Experts say that did work last summer, but at the cost of some of the park facilities that were most used and loved by the community.
"It looked totally different," said Fatima Brown, who spent Monday with her son at the Hart Park playground. "It's very hard to believe that it's been a year."
The flooding from Aug. 9-10, 2025, ravaged Hart Park's playground, sports fields, trails, and other amenities, leaving millions of dollars of damage.
A memorable sight was at Hart Park stadium, where the turf field lifted and crumpled.
"When we were standing here the last time, I didn't even know if we could play," said Andreas Davi, the owner of the FC Milwaukee Torrent professional soccer team.
Hart Park stadium is the Torrent's home field, and they stored their belongings in a locker under the bleachers.
"We lost almost everything we owned," Davi said. The floods caused them $90,000 worth of damage. "All of our merchandise was in there: TV cameras, equipment, soccer equipment."
After the floods, the team raised $30,000 in donations. While that didn't make up for their loss, it was enough to purchase a new sales trailer.
"Now we can go to tournaments or wherever and just pop up the trailer and sell merchandise," Davi explained.
With a $1 million donation from the TOSA Foundation, the city began repairs in the spring.
The stadium reopened in mid-May with new turf and repaired drainage, sewage, and bleachers.
Davi is grateful that his team, and many others, can be back on the field.
"What I went through is not as bad as what people went through who lost their houses, but I think for them, it's also the same," he explained. "You just don't stop, you just go, right? It's bad as it is, but if you stop, then it gets you, but if you go, you make it possible, and we made it possible."
The playground and splash pad also re-opened in mid-May.
The softball fields are still closed. The clay infield was destroyed by the flood, and according to the City of Wauwatosa, it's the only major repair that hasn't been done.
The city is waiting to hear from the community and Common Council on whether to restore the field or replace it with a different park amenity.
To date, the City of Wauwatosa has spent about $2.4 million in flood recovery, comprised of the $1 million TOSA Foundation donation, $565,000 in insurance payments, and $784,218 from city cash reserves.