Milwaukee Deluged by Record 6.84-Inch Rain

Scores of homeowners shored up the foundations of their damaged houses today in the wake of the worst rainstorm to hit the city in more than a century.

The storm dropped 6.84 inches of rain on the city in a three-hour period Wednesday night, turning normally quiet streams into torrents that swept a boy to his death and drowned an elderly woman.

The heavy rainfall broke the record of 5.7 inches that fell in 1917.

An 11-year old boy was swept to his death in a swollen river and an 80-year old woman was found dead in 11 inches of water in her basement apartment.

Gov. Anthony S. Earl asked President Reagan for federal assistance.

Mitchell International Airport reopened today after being closed overnight, but only one runway was in operation.

The storm’s intensity surprised meteorologists. “It developed and formed and just sat there,” said John Haase of the National Weather Service.

Angry homeowners who live along the Kinnickinnic River said they had been told that improvements in the channel would prevent flooding. “They told us when they fixed the river a few years ago there would be no more floods,” said Jan Abuya.