Climate Change & You

Why Should We Care?

Do you remember August 2025 in Milwaukee? On Saturday, Aug. 9, 2025 into Sunday morning of Aug. 10, the heavens unleashed a downpour on our area. One of the measurements -- from James Madison High School near 76th & Fond du Lac Avenue -- set a new all-time Wisconsin record at 14.55 inches of rainfall over 24 hours. This was an extremely powerful storm that caused rivers to rise, basements to flood, and millions in property damage.

You'll hear us talk about MMSD -- that stands for the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District. It's a state-chartered agency that uses our public tax dollars to manage flooding and treat wastewater -- what we flush down the toilet. MMSD documented the impact of the August 2025 storm here. As their director writes, the storm was devastating, but it could have been much worse. That's in part because of the past 15 years of community efforts to build up resilience by managing water where it falls. Following a similar catastrophic storm on July 22, 2010 after a very wet month -- how old were you in 2010? -- MMSD and other partners committed to a shared vision to reduce sewer overflows and basement backups to zero by 2035. Green infrastructure and stormwater basins have been a big part of that work so far, with more on the way during your lifetime. The projects Reflo supports at Milwaukee Public Schools are among those that help manage water where it falls. Following the 1,000-year storm in 2025, that vision is being accelerated.