Madison residents have expected the flood of students pouring into the University of Wisconsin campus for the start of the fall semester.

What they did not expect, however, was an unprecedented amount of rainfall one day this summer, wreaking damage on property across the isthmus and leaving various parts of the city under water.

Storm clouds dropped more than five inches of rain in less than an hour July 27, flooding streets, several parking garages and even more basements. More than a month later, city landlords are still surveying the damage.

“Our office is on Regent Street and there was like a tidal wave of water coming down the street,” said Matt McGrady, a leasing coordinator for Tallard Apartments. “At that point I knew we might be having some problems, so we sent maintenance around to all our houses to check on the damage and make sure everything was alright.”

Fortunately for Tallard, McGrady said the amount of damage to property did not measure up to the severity of the storm. Tallard properties that did experience some form of flooding were not difficult to clean, and he said maintenance did not exceed $1,000.

Not all property companies were as lucky, however. Chris McKee, Forward Management’s Orchard Court manager, said the July 27 flood may have caused up to $30,000 worth of damage to the parking structure beneath one of their properties.

“There was over five feet of water in the parking structure beneath Orchard Court,” McKee said. “The damage estimates do not include the several vehicles that were damaged or the property being stored in the structure, but I’m sure that was very costly as well.”

It seems in most cases the storm resulted merely in raised eyebrows instead of costs. Larry Nelson of City Engineering said the storm has forced city staff to prepare for such circumstances.

“The cost in dealing with that situation was minimal. Since then, despite heavy rains, the city has experienced no real problems except for some standing water on some walkways,” Nelson said. “However, on July 27 we did see problems in underground parking structures, which are becoming more prevalent as the city develops. The storm has caused us to focus our efforts on flood-proofing our parking structures.”

The storm caused property owners to become more conscious of flood-proofing areas near their property. Nelson estimated that every maintenance crew has checked the sump pumps and drainage sewers for association management companies around the city.

McKee said recent rainfall, though unseasonable, is a more reasonable expectation, and provided a good flood test for Forward Management’s drainage systems.

“All of our parking garages have sump pumps, and we’ve been able to check which ones may back up,” McKee said. “We were able to take care of those and make sure that the rainfall of the past week has not caused us a problem.”