The following program is a PBS Wisconsin original
production. >> If one were.
>> Residents sort through the wreckage after some of
the worst rain and flood events swept through
southeast Wisconsin, leaving a path of destruction in its
wake. [MUSIC]
tonight on "Here& Now" Milwaukee County Executive
David Crowley gives the latest on flood recovery.
And an expert explains how to know if you're insured
for flood damage. [MUSIC]
containing lead paint in schools, and what to expect
for next year's marketplace premiums. It's "Here& Now"
for August 15th. >> Funding for Here and now
is provided by the Focus Fund for Journalism and
Friends of PBS Wisconsin. >> Communities across
Wisconsin were hit with severe weather, with record
floods hitting the Milwaukee area as the state awaits
word on any federal aid, those on the ground got to
work doing what they could. >> I woke up in the middle
of the night about 3 a.m. Something just told me to
check the basement. As soon as I got down there, my
worst nightmare. >> Milwaukee and Waukesha
County residents experienced a living nightmare.
>> When I got down there, I was checking the water drain
and water was just gushing out of it. You know, I tried
to put pressure on it like it was an open wound or
something. led to historic flooding,
the deluge of water overwhelmed storm drains
caused flash floods, knocked out power, damaged homes,
submerged cars and crumbled roads. No deaths have been
reported to have been caused by flooding during the
intense rainfall. Some areas experienced 10 to 13in of
rain in a matter of hours, categorizing it as a 1000
year flood, a record for the area, second only to
flooding in 2008. Governor Tony Evers called it
unprecedented and declared a state of emergency for flash
flooding and storm damage across the state. The
governor also requested FEMA support as Wisconsin
Emergency Management said an initial state and local
damage review suggests Wisconsin meets the
threshold for federal aid. A formal presidential
declaration is needed before any federal assistance will
be provided. But there's some damage. Financial aid
won't fix. >> My father had recently
passed, and I had all of his boxes down in the basement,
so a lot of memories got washed away. It was pretty
bad. >> Milwaukee County
Executive David Crowley Executive David Crowley %
emergency on Sunday as the scope of the flooding was
immediately evident. At week's end, David Crowley
joins us for what's happening now and what's
next. And thanks very much for being here.
>> Thank you for having me. Frederick, always a
>> So now, just under a week since these torrential rains
and flooding, what is happening in Milwaukee right
now, in the aftermath? >> Well, we've had an
opportunity to talk to many different neighbors and
businesses, and a lot of them are facing a lot of
devastation and really heartbroken as far as what
this severe weather has done to them. And so right now,
we are in the recovery mode. And so we have damage
assessment teams working in conjunction with not only
our local officials, but as well as the Wisconsin
Emergency Management. And our job is to make sure we
do this analysis report that damage. Hopefully we'll be
getting that preliminary data done today. We'll be
then turning that over to the Wisconsin Emergency
Management System to see if we can get a FEMA
declaration. I've heard that they may be coming as soon
as next week. More to hear on that. But when they're
here, that gives an opportunity to an analysis
of our our damage report. And for them to actually
tour and see the damage themselves before making a
declaration. >> What is the scope of the
damage? Do you know yet? Do you have kind of a ballpark
dollar damage figure? >> Well, when you think
about a 1000 year flood, it could create a lot, of lot
of damage, right? Thousand year rain storm coming into
our community. And so far we've had the opportunity to
actually assess over 2900 different levels of
properties. And we see a lot of properties that have
either major damage or completely destroyed. And so
we know that when it comes down to our public
infrastructure, it exceeds $23 million to date at this
moment. And so as we continue to do these damage
assessments, we're just asking for the public's
patience to contact 211 as much as possible to report
that damage so we can give an accurate assessment.
>> What was worst hit? >> You know, I don't think
you know, when we talk about Milwaukee County, I would
say what was worst hit is, is our pride. You know, this
is something that we never really understood was coming
our way. But when you see what has happened in
Greenfield, what has of Milwaukee, including
Wauwatosa, there's a lot of damage. And we've also heard
about other communities outside of Milwaukee County
who've also faced a certain level of damage. And so it
is our hope that we will be able to receive some level
of FEMA assistance compared to what we've seen out
there. With my own eyes, I do think that we've reached
that threshold for a presidential declaration.
>> How are residents coping? >> You know, residents are
doing everything that they can. Many are heartbroken.
But I've also seen many folks who whose spirits are
still high. And I'm glad to see folks helping out. I've
been going to different neighborhoods, seeing
neighbors, businesses, really stepping up. But with
this community really needs is for their neighbors. You
know, folks from all across the state to really come
down and assist with the cleanup, helping us to get
to those recovery efforts, getting to that place of
normal as much, as much as we can and as quickly as
possible. But I want folks to know that, you know, our
spirits aren't broken. You know, we are strong and
resilient Milwaukee County, everything that we can to
not only recover, but to rebuild the best way
possible. >> You're kind of putting a
call out for people to come to help. Is there enough
help on the ground? >> You know, when you're
when you're talking about the level of devastation and
not just the physical damage, but the
psychological damage that this can have? You know, we
need as much help as possible, right? I mean,
there are so many seniors, people with disabilities who
still haven't been able to clean out their basements
and still have, you know, severe damage in their in
their basements. But you also have individuals who
have lost, you know, their foundation completely and,
you know, have close to three feet of mud and water
still in their basements and needing the help to clean
those things up. And so we do need as much help as
possible. We're asking folks to not only contact the Red
cross to, to provide some level of assistance, but we
do have our website, County dot gov slash 2025 flood
resources, where individuals can sign up to create their
own volunteer teams to go out and help individuals.
>> Are you optimistic that FEMA will deliver federal
disaster aid here? >> You know, I am hopeful
that they will be able to give us that federal
declaration. When you think about the level of damage,
again, $23 million in public infrastructure alone and
seeing homes who are already being quoted, $100,000 in
order to rebuild to the to the magnitude that they feel
comfortable with. I mean, that's quite extreme. And we
know that, you know, insurance isn't going to
cover everything for individuals. And so if we
want to bring back individual assistance and be
able to rebuild the best way possible, that declaration
is going to be extremely key moving forward. And so I'm
grateful for Governor Evers and making the state
declaration. And so that at the federal level
soon. >> Milwaukee County
Executive David Crowley, thanks very much and good
luck. >> Thank you so much for
having me. >> Property loss due to
flooding, like what happened in Milwaukee is likely not
covered by the standard homeowner's insurance
policy. It would be covered up to a point under flood
insurance. But according to the state Insurance
Commissioners Office, Wisconsin has one of the
lowest number of flood insurance policies in the
nation, at under 11,000 of more than 2.7 million
households. Our next guest researches flood insurance
costs and benefits as assistant professor in the
Risk and Insurance Department at the Wisconsin
School of Business. Philip Mulder joins us now. And
thanks for being here. >> Thank you, Frederic.
Happy to be here. >> So what's the explanation
for why so few people hold flood insurance? Do they not
know that they need it? >> I think that it's a
variety of cases. You know, on the one hand, especially
in a state like Wisconsin, where we're not used to
thinking of floods as a regular risk, a lot of
people don't do the due diligence that you would
need to discover that your homeowner's insurance policy
doesn't cover that peril, right? You may be told that
as you buy the policy, but maybe you forget over time,
or you don't notice as you're kind of finalizing
the details. In other cases, maybe people do know that
flood isn't covered, but it is an extra cost. It can be
on the low end, you know, three $400 a year on the
high end. If you are in a high risk area, maybe even
thousands of dollars a year for a lot of households
that's outside of their immediate budget, especially
if flooding isn't top of mind as a as a potential
risk. >> Certainly top of mind
right now, right after what happened in Milwaukee. But I
put a Milwaukee address that did experience flood damage
into the flood risk calculator, and it came out
as low risk. Our flood maps accurate. And have they
changed recently? Do they change a lot?
>> The information that we have about flood risk can
often be, I think confusing to the typical household.
It's sort of important to break down what might be out
there. On the one hand you have sort of what we've
always called flood maps, which are made by FEMA, and
those can often be out of date. These are updated over
time by the US Army Corps of Engineers through studies.
But that process can is supposed to be done every
five years, but often flood maps can be more than a
decade out of date, even when they are updated, they
don't always do a rigorous study. So. So yes, that
information is often out of date, even if you're not in
an official floodplain, your home may have substantial
risk. The National Flood Insurance Program is using
newer information now to price policies based on risk
rating 2.0, but that can be very difficult for
homeowners to learn about. So sometimes you'll see
information on the flood map that tells you your low risk.
And another set of information may be telling
you that your high risk. >> And so what should the
homeowner do? >> Well, you know, it's
important to sort of take a holistic view of everything
that you can do to learn about your risk. There's
also third party tools out there, like First Street
Foundation. I understand that the end of the day,
this probably seems like throwing even more
information at the home owner. I think looking into
what the Nfip is charging you, this is the National
Flood Insurance Program. You know, that premium is based
off of their best estimate of your risk. If you're
being charged a high premium, it's probably
because you have high risk. And it seems to me that some
people might explain away risk in Wisconsin by saying
what happened in Milwaukee was a thousand year flood.
It's not going to happen again.
>> Well, you know, I mean, a 1 in 1000 chance of having
your home ruined is a substantial risk, right?
That's what flood insurance and insurance in general is
for, is to take something that yes, it's unlikely, but
if it were to happen, could be catastrophic. And to and
to, you know, get insure against that. The other
thing too is, you know, when we talk about things like
1000 year or a 100 year concept to wrap our heads
around. It does not mean that this will only happen
once every thousand years. There's 1000 year floods
every year somewhere in the country, right? And in
addition, what is a thousand year flood? That's something
that we can only estimate and that we think is
changing with changing weather patterns.
>> So if you buy a flood insurance policy, maybe
you're not even in a high risk area, but maybe you
just want to be covered. Does that then cover for
replacement, or are they all different?
>> You are probably going to be able to find some
different types of coverage on the market. So, you know,
I've thrown out the term nfip, the National Flood
Insurance Program that is a federally run insurer, and
they are the primary provider of flood insurance
in the United States and including Wisconsin. They
will sell you up to $250,000 of coverage. A lot of homes
that will not cover the full replacement cost, but for
some of the smaller floods, maybe primarily affect the
lower levels of a home, which which are more typical
in Wisconsin, you might be able to get enough coverage.
Now, there's also private providers of flood
insurance, and there you might be able to find more
coverage options and things that can cover more
expensive homes. It's always important to talk things
through with an agent or a broker. Understand
differences between actual cash value, replacement cost
value policies. You know, these these can definitely
be tricky concepts. >> So given torrential rain
events that are on the increase, should we all just
assume that we need flood >> You know, it's I think
it's a decision that every household has to make for
itself. What I hope is that people can go in with full
information. I think that often people assume that
they have low risk because they're not in a floodplain.
That's not always going to be true. People will say
things like, oh, I can't get flood insurance. I'm not in
a floodplain. That's not true. The National Flood
Insurance Program will sell flood insurance in almost
every community. As a participating nfip
community, that means you can buy flood insurance
inside or outside of the floodplain, so people should
understand their options. Now there's other steps you
can take some pumps in your basement, elevating homes
that are near waterways, keeping a buffer of savings.
If you only face small, say, basement damages, you know,
these are other tools that homeowners can use to handle
flood risk. But flood insurance is definitely one
of those tools, and households should take a
look at their budgets and see if that makes sense.
>> If you put a sump pump or other measures like that in
your basement, does that reduce the cost? If you buy
flood insurance? >> Not in every case. And in
addition, you know, some things are excluded through
flood insurance policy. So basements in many cases you
might be on your own altogether, certainly for,
say, covering the contents down there, you know, flood
insurance is really for dealing with the worst case
scenarios. I know that, you know, a 10 or $20,000 loss
can be financially catastrophic to families,
but ultimately, what flood insurance is for is even
bigger losses, potentially the kind of flooding that
could ruin your entire home. >> Wow. Well, Philip Mulder,
thank you. Thank you so much for the information.
>> Thank you. It was my pleasure.
quickly approaches, we have an update on lead
contamination in Milwaukee Public Schools. Here and
now, reporter Steven Potter has this report.
>> So they'll come back before school starts and
make sure that they get every single spot. And it's
just a constant upkeep. >> Brenda Cassellius is the
superintendent of the system. Since her first day
in the job, less than six months ago, she's faced the
manage a significant health risk facing the school
district's more than 60,000 students. The problem is
lead contamination, specifically chipping lead
paint and lead dust, and the extent of the problem is
very widespread. >> So we have to assume that
the schools built prior to 1950, when there was the
understanding that there's lead in paint happened, that
those schools have lead in them.
>> Cassellius says the Milwaukee public Schools
were using lead paint until it was federally outlawed in
1978. That means a majority of schools are considered
contaminated. >> That's about 106 schools.
>> The lead crisis began when a student at the Golda
Meir Elementary School tested positive for lead
poisoning back in January. That's when the City of
Milwaukee Health Department got involved.
>> We're very concerned about developmental delays
and cognitive regulation. So if a child has significant
lead poisoning, it can cause behavioral issues and make
their more impulsive, and it can cause permanent brain
damage that has significant long term effects. So this
is why lead is regulated at the federal level and why
we're taking this so seriously here in the city.
>> Early last spring, after another NPS child tested
positive for lead poisoning, the health department
ordered the school district to come up with a lead
abatement and management plan to address the most
contaminated schools and the student populations most in
danger of lead poisoning. >> The district was required
to produce a lead plan to ensure that we could get
back to compliance with the lead standards that are set
forth for any school across the state of Wisconsin.
>> Around 600 students have been tested, Totoraitis
says, and the testing of students continues.
>> This is an ongoing effort that's really going to span
into the coming years to ensure that we keep eyes on
the students at Mnps and frankly, across the city.
>> Part of the school district's new plan,
released last April, included temporarily closing
several schools and relocating the students to
another school while cleaning and repainting was
done over the spring and now through summer. School
officials say they've made progress, but still have
dozens more schools to clear.
>> We're hoping that we'll have our schools finished
and tested by the September 2nd school start date.
>> It's a fluid process, so as we do our screenings and
ensuring that the schools are ready to reopen, we've
uncovered, hey, you actually need to reclean this room or
you need to restabilize this surface and that adds more
time. >> Despite all of their
efforts so far, NPS officials say that there's
still a lot more work to do with cleaning and painting
the schools to get them to a standard that's safe for
students. And once the schools are stabilized,
additional maintenance and needed to keep them that
way. going to cost somewhere
around $25 million to do. And then there's the ongoing
costs. So we put an additional $16 million of
ongoing investments within our facilities department to
add custodial support, to add painters, to add
plasters, to add lead abatement. Or lead
inspectors to the team to make sure that we're keeping
up with our lead action plan.
NPS is having to cover alone.
>> We have not received any help from the state.
>> Still, some are concerned that not enough is being
done fast enough or thoroughly enough to keep
their kids safe. And one group wants more
transparency about what's being done. Shannon Pahlicek
is a parent with Lead Safe Schools Milwaukee.
>> It shouldn't have been a problem in the first place.
It's an issue of aging. Buildings is a big part of
it, but it's also an issue of deferred maintenance,
which is a multifaceted problem. The
administration's job is to know what's going on in the
schools. And so the idea that there was, you know, as
much degradation in the paint as there was and as
much dust in the schools as there was, I think that's
that's disheartening. No child deserves to be unsafe
on day one. So they've got to do what they've got to
do. But the faster the better. But you want it done
right. Cassellius says she
understands the parents concerns.
>> We're working as fast as we can with all urgency and
no expense spared. So I've told my team, if you need
additional painters, we will buy them. If you need
additional plasters, we will buy them. The only thing
that I can't give them more of is time. We are up
against a deadline on September 2nd to get this
work done. >> You can't make a mistake
like this and then ask the public to just trust you.
You have to be willing to build that trust by being
completely transparent. >> Regardless of how much
cleaning and repainting is done. One fact remains that
these schools still have decades of lead paint inside
them. So the only way to truly eliminate this risk,
NPS officials say, is to rebuild.
>> I think that we need to do some either major
renovations or new builds, and we need a significant
100 year plan in Milwaukee, public schools. We have to
make some hard decisions as a community about the
investments we want to make in our children's future.
>> Reporting from Milwaukee. I'm Steven Potter for "Here&
Now". >> In health care news.
Affordable Care Act premiums are expected to increase
sharply when people enroll, starting in November.
Insurance companies are making their projections now
for 2026. Rates in Wisconsin, nearly 850,000
people are enrolled in ACA plans. 12 insurers across
the state that offer marketplace plans, project
increases ranging from 6.6% to 34.5%, according to
Health system analysts. What's driving this
increase? We turn to Caroline Gomez-Tom, an
enrollment manager with the covering Wisconsin program,
which helps people sign up for marketplace plans. And
thanks very much for being here.
Frederica. >> So when you saw these
projected premium hikes, what was your reaction,
especially to the like 34.5% increase?
>> Yeah, it was definitely a startling hike. Except we
weren't necessarily surprised knowing that there
were some things that were in the mix regarding
enhanced premium tax credits that were going away or
potentially going away. You know, Congress could still
act in, you know, these several months before the
end of the year and then some other policy changes
that have happened at the federal level. Plus
healthcare costs, rising inflation, etc, that could
be a part of this. But to see the numbers that we are
expecting for this year, it it took it took your breath
away. >> Yeah. So these enhanced
tax credits are due to expire at the end of 2025.
How did those tax credits help with out-of-pocket
costs? >> Yeah. So these extended
tax credits, they have been in place now since 2020. And
essentially they expanded really the discounts or the
amount that people qualified for to lower their cost of
insurance, especially for those folks that had
slightly higher incomes. So that middle income range
above 400% of the federal poverty level. And what that
means is that people had more options to consider
when they were looking at the healthcare.gov options,
instead of just going directly to the lowest cost
bronze plan with a crazy out of pocket cost for an
individual, they could actually shop around
realistically and look at the plan that may cost a
little more per month, but because of those extended
premiums, they could afford it, but had also lower out
of pocket costs for them. >> And so did those premium
tax credits. Encourage a lot more people to actually
enroll? >> Absolutely. And we could
see that even just this last year where we hit a
milestone year in enrollment in Wisconsin, we had 313,000
people sign up, which was the highest we'd seen since
the marketplace opened in 2014.
>> So according to an analysis that we read, there
are other drivers other than these enhanced tax credits
of rate hikes, like the cost of health care itself, which
you mentioned, including specialty drugs like
Ozempic. What's it like for people with ACA plans to see
such swings in costs? >> Yeah, I think it's tough
because we're already talking about folks who
otherwise don't have access to another form of coverage.
These are folks that don't qualify for Medicaid. They
usually do not have an option for health insurance
through their employer. So they're already going to
healthcare.gov because there are limited options for
them. And then without this additional financial
assistance to help lower the cost of insurance. And sure,
there still will be some tax credits for most folks, but
there still will be some that really will get priced
out of the marketplace. And that I, you know, that's
that's very difficult for folks to go without health
coverage. >> So if someone is
enrolling or Re-enrolling for next year, what is your
advice? >> Well, I would say to
start early, get connected with a health insurance
navigator. Covering Wisconsin still has our
navigator program and we will help people sign up for
coverage through healthcare.gov. They can
call 211. They can also reach us directly on
discover.com or our website, covering Wisconsin. To sign
up for an appointment. And they need to shop around.
And I normally would say they should shop around, but
really this year I think it's a need to make sure
that they understand all the options that are available
to them so that they can make a sound choice, because
what I don't want to see are people just foregoing even
going to healthcare.gov because they're deterred by
cost. We want people to at least know what their
options are so they can make a sound decision.
>> All right. Great advice. Caroline Gomez-Tom thanks
and other issues facing Wisconsin, visit our website
at PBS Wisconsin and then click on the news tab.
That's our program for tonight. I'm Frederica
Freyberg. Have a good weekend.
>> Funding for "Here& Now" is provided by the Focus
Fund for Journalism and Friends of PBS Wisconsin.