From April 13th through the 23rd, severe weather swept New Berlin, bringing more than 4.68 inches of rain, which is above average for our town, leading to widespread destruction and flooding.

Maddie Quam, a freshman, claimed her basement flooded on Friday, the 18th. Quam was shocked at the scene around her. She explains, “I was thinking about the office downstairs, and I didn’t want mold under the carpet.” The night of the impact, Quam and her family’s main focus was keeping their basement dry. 

The Quam family dealt with the water by using shammys— a highly absorbent, soft, and lint-free material, typically made of leather (sheepskin) or synthetic PVA, used for drying, cleaning, and polishing surfaces without scratching— on their floor to prevent the water from spreading. The family had buckets outside their house, specifically outside of their window cells, restricting rain from getting into their basement windows. Additionally, Quam’s parents were up all night cleaning out their rain gutters to avoid further flooding in their home, particularly in her mother’s office.

Not only was Quam’s family impacted by the flooding, but her whole neighborhood was as well. Quam’s neighborhood was flooded with water covering the entire street. As a result, Quam and her neighbors were unable to leave their house for a few days. 

The totality of New Berlin was impacted as well. The weather was so severe that Wisconsin set its record for April rainfall with half the month still to come. Mayor David Ament even declared a state of emergency because of the historic rainfall and flash flooding during this past weekend. In New Berlin and surrounding areas, there have been around 384 damage reports to houses as of April 21, 2026.