Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett pressed the city's case for federal disaster relief for individual homeowners Friday, stressing in a letter to the Federal Emergency Management Agencythat basement water damage can add up to major damagein Milwaukee homes.

Federal guidelines give greater consideration to damage to first floors of homes or above. Basement damage warrants a lesser "affected" designation, and much of the damage to Milwaukee homes from the July 22 storms was to basements. From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.