Following what was deemed a 1,000-year flood in August 2025, Milwaukeeans thought they would have quite some time to spare until the next flood ravaged their city.
999 years ahead of time, the next historic flood struck, affecting Milwaukee — and Marquette University — for an entire week.
As tornado sirens sounded, rain poured down and wind rattled windows during the nighttime hours of April 13, the Marquette campus began to brace for a days of severe storms in Milwaukee. But no one could have prepared for the damage was to come in the following days.
Here’s how the university, and Milwaukee as a whole, were affected by the weather in Milwaukee during the third week of April.
Al McGuire Center floods during volleyball match
On April 15, the third consecutive night of severe storms in Milwaukee, streets and buildings around campus began to flood.
One of these buildings was the Al McGuire Center, whose roof appeared to have ripped shortly after 8:30 p.m. CST. Water began rapidly flowing down the upper-level bleachers and within minutes, pooled on the main concourse. Not long after, the building’s basement also got wet.
At that time, the Marquette volleyball team was hosting a spring match against the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. The game continued on for around 20 minutes before the building was evacuated and the match ended prematurely.
The Marquette Wire reached out to the university to clarify if the Al McGuire Center is operational yet. Spokesperson Kevin Conway responding with an email statement saying there was minimal damage to ceiling tiles, and that remediation efforts began immediately to address water in seating areas and one locker room space.
Carpenter Tower loses power, other areas affected
While the Al McGuire Center sustained significant flooding in both the basement and first floor, streets around campus also flooded. The same night, April 15, Carpenter Tower lost power in the middle of the night due to the torrential downpours.
On the evening of April 16, the university cut power to several campus buildings to install a generator that restored power to Carpenter Tower, which houses nearly 300 students. Several buildings and residence halls on campus were affected by the outage.
Conway, the university spokesperson, told the Wire the university needed to get power back to fix any existing water damage.
The basement of Schroeder Hall also sustained water damage, Conway said. Late on the night of April 15, the Marquette University Police Department wrote in an email laundry facilities were partly affected, but campus remained open and operational.
Students react to extreme weather conditions
Some students were quick to congregate outside to get a first-hand view of the historic weather.
“I’ve never seen rain like that in my life,” Neve Cavalier, a sophomore in the College of Nursing who walked down Wisconsin Avenue through ankle-deep water, told the Wire on April 15.
At 9:02 p.m. the university sent out a safety alert about flooding in the area of 15th Street and Kilbourn Avenue. Garbage floated freely throughout the intersection, cars were submerged up to their wheels and buildings — mainly houses and apartments — all along the block had standing water inside.
“It’s 15th River, not 15th Street,” Kelly Gill, a senior in the College of Communication who lives in a sorority house on the corner told the Wire on April 15.
Instead of remaining inside, some students flocked to 15th street in swimsuits — and even swim caps — to wade in the water. Videos posted to social media showed students pushing cars off the street as they filled with flood water.
The intersection remained flooded the longest of any on campus, not draining until the morning April 16. All street floodwaters have since receded.
Theater production delayed during tornado warning
The Marquette campus still wasn’t out of the clear following the events April 15 and 16. On April 17, another tornado warning was issued in the area, prompting everyone to shelter in place — including those at the Helfaer Theatre.
Marquette Theatre’s final show of the 2025-2026 season, “Noises Off,” was halted just 20 minutes into the show. For about 45 minutes, actors receded to their dressing room and the audience sought shelter in a backstage hallway — built into the ground and with no windows — until the tornado warning was called off.
Afterward, the production carried on, and the audience was able to see the full show.
A record-breaking week for weather in Milwaukee
With a little under two weeks left in the month, Milwaukee has already recorded its rainiest April of all time, according to National Weather Service data logging back to 1871. The metropolitan area has seen 9.01 inches of rain so far this month, beating 2013’s previous record of 7.31 inches.
Additionally, from April 13 through April 19, the Milwaukee NWS station issued 43 tornado warnings.
Marquette campus deals with a year of water damage
Last week’s severe weather was not the first time Marquette has dealt with flooding this school year.
The historic 1,000-year flood in August damaged a slew of campus buildings, including the Valley Fields pavilion and grandstand. Then, on Jan. 31, a pipe burst in the attic of Johnston Hall, causing extensive damage and closing the building from Feb. 2-6.
This story was written by Mia Thurow. She can be reached at [email protected]. Jack Albright and Sahil Gupta contributed to this report.
