Torrential rains Monday cause flooding in several Milwaukee neighborhoods

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- The torrential rains that came down Monday, March 4, caused flash flooding throughout the Milwaukee area and caught a lot of people off guard.

A particularly troublesome spot was just a few blocks from Fiserv Forum, where several feet of water pooled around several parked cars.

Similar scenes played out in a few spots around the city, where several feet of standing water remained hours after the rainstorm swept through.

Miguel O'Hara walked through the flooded streets. He told us, "I'm just used to walking in a blizzard in the winter, I'm not used to the flashed floods."

The intersection at Oakland and Newberry is a frequent problem area during heavy rains.

Cal Oechler works near that corner, and told us, "I could hear it coming down. It sounded like the roof was going to cave in."

Oechler also lives nearby and walks home. When he left work Monday, he saw "A river, basically. I had to kind of climb onto people's lawns to find my way home."

He wasn't alone. Our crews saw about a dozen people turn around, not wanting to risk wading through the intersection.

Melvonte Watson was driving around, surveying the scene. He told us, "You got people stopping, almost having accidents. I saw like three accidents on the way down here."

But he said it's even harder for people on foot. "A lot of flooding, man. It's hard to even walk. If you have to walk, if people are standing on the bus stop, you're going to be wet. Because there's that much water."

O'Hara had just come from Brady Street. He said it was completely flooded. "Right across the street at La Masa, the flood was getting so bad that the guy was pushing water out of the front door, basically."

Miguel caught the bus home and thought he was in the clear until he got off.

At his stop, he showed us, "This is literally a marsh, right here. This is wild, just crawling through these yards just to not get wet."

A few people in residential areas were trying to clear drains with rakes or sticks. But in some spots, like the one near Fiserv Forum, it was hard to even know where the drain was.