Glendale residents asked for patience, with flood cleanup expected to take weeks

GLENDALE, Wis. (CBS 58) — Piles of flood debris from homes can be found littered on curbs all over our area. Many of our hometowns are asking their residents for patience as they do their best to get things cleaned up.

Glendale is one of those communities, where our team saw crews working to pick up any flood-damaged items from the curbs.

City of Glendale Mayor Bryan Kennedy told us it'll still take "a couple of weeks" to clear the debris, because "there is that much."

As residents turn to the next phase of cleaning up after the historic floods, what we see now are garbage bags, pieces of furniture, containers and more, all showing the aftermath.

"I would say at least half the city, if not more, had at least some water in their basements. We have some people, who, their basements were a total loss. They've had to essentially gut everything," said Mayor Kennedy.

With everything out of basements and onto the curb, the city of Glendale realized there was too much trash for their crews to pick up quickly.

"We were not going to be able to meet the demand for all of the stuff that is out. And as you go through some of the neighborhoods, you'll see piles taller than me, that are about 6-8 feet deep, that go the entire length of people's front yards."

Glendale reassigned some of their employees to help up with the pickup, counting on them, John's Disposal, their private company, and additional resources from Milwaukee County.

Residents like Rick Franklin and Eric Schluter, while facing sewer backups in their houses, are understanding of how long it may take.

"it's understandable considering the scale of the damage. So obviously, it'd be great to get right back to normal and pretend like nothing happened, but that's not realistic," said Franklin. "I just can't imagine hauling away this volume of stuff. I just look up and down my street, I say, when they get here, they'll get here, at least it's out of my house," shared Schluter.

Mayor Kennedy estimates the city suffered hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage. He also reiterates that there are no drop-off sites in the city and asks residents to be patient as crews go to their houses to pick things up.

“I and my neighbors witnessed extreme backflow being forced through sewer covers, cracks in pavement, foundations, crawl spaces and basements,” Franklin said.

He feels thankful it wasn’t worse for him, though he got 30 inches of water in his basement. He went on to say he feels “so feel grateful and privileged," adding, "Our hearts go out to all those less fortunate.”