Wauwatosa, WIS (CBS 58) - Parts of Hart Park opened back up on Thursday, Aug. 21, in Wauwatosa after the park suffered major flooding damage earlier this month.

Wauwatosa Mayor Dennis McBride announced that the TOSA Foundation was donating $1 million to recovery efforts. 

“As wonderful as the million dollars is, it’s not going to cover anywhere near our costs here,” McBride said. “We do have some insurance, we hope that FEMA might kick in some money as well, but a million dollars is a significant donation.”

As of Thursday, some pathways and green spaces are back open, but the softball diamond, football and soccer field, playground areas, and other parts remain closed due to repairs. 

“It’s a very preliminary number right now, we have quite a bit of analysis yet to do, but our initial estimates are in the millions of dollars,” Wauwatosa Public Works Superintendent Alex Krutsch said. 

Andreas Davi is the owner of the FC Milwaukee Torrent soccer program. 

The program has a men’s team and a women’s team, both practice and play at Hart Park during the summer. 

“Hart Park is our home facility,” Davi said. “We practice there, and we play there, it’s what we call our home.”

The men’s team started playing at Hart Park in 2017 and the women’s team joined them in 2018. 

Over the years Davi has used storage space under the bleachers to store team merchandise, a huge contributor to the team’s budget during the offseason. 

“I knew it was probably a total loss, there were a few things we could luckily rescue but we lost our whole merchandise, it’s all gone,” Davi said. 

Davi says he didn’t even know the park was within a federal floodplain and didn’t plan for any kind of flooding event. 

“I think it’s a little bit different when you just rent something and when you own it, when you rent you play and you practice, you don’t think about something like this,” Davi said. 

The 2025 season is over for both teams, but the timeline for the field to get back to normal is unknown. 

“People always say you need to stay positive, but nobody sees behind the curtain with stuff like this,” Davi said. “Right now, I can’t offer anything, nothing.”

The city is actively working to rebuild the park and seek more assistance. 

“Just yesterday I signed a letter along with the other mayors and village presidents to ask FEMA to speed up its process,” McBride said.