Milwaukee Recovering From 100-Year Flood

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

“The storm developed and formed and just sat there,” said John Haase of the National Weather Service.

Angry homeowners who live along the Kinnickinnic River said Thursday that 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,” Jan Abuya said.

But David A. Kuemmel, Milwaukee public works commissioner, said recent improvements in the channel were not designed to contain a 100-year flood.

6.84 Inches in 3 Hours

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

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

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

Four feet of floodwater that turned the Milwaukee County Stadium field into a swimming pool had receded by Thursday.

Boy’s Body Recovered

The body of Shama Virojana, 11, was pulled from Kinnickinnic River on Wednesday evening 15 blocks downstream from where he had gone to wash off his shoes after playing in nearby Pulaski Park. The force of the current had torn most of the clothes from his body.

Lucy Wiorek, 80, was found dead in her living room in 11 inches of water. An autopsy was ordered.