Milwaukee Co. Parks Dept. prepares lakefront for Sandy's impact

MILWAUKEE -- The Milwaukee County Parks Department is preparing the lakefront for expected impacts from Hurricane Sandy. Already on Monday, October 29th -- as the storm had yet to make landfall on the east coast, people gathered along Milwaukee's lakefront to catch a glimpse of the high waves rolling in.

"I'm curious. Just curious. Fascinated I think. It'll be interesting to see what happens," Mary Widen said.

According to the National Weather Service, gale to storm force winds gusting to between 45 and 60 mph are expected over Lake Michigan Tuesday, October 30th with windy conditions along the lake shore and gusts to about 40 mph from Sheboygan to Milwaukee and Kenosha. Dangerous high waves of 14 to 18 feet are anticipated.

Gary Durham didn't want to wait to see what happens to his sailboat. Instead, he took it out of the water. Durham got a call early from his mother who lives on the east coast.

"Woke me up this morning, my mom. Once a mom, always a mom. She was warning me and I thanked her profusely. Then I went to work. When I was at work, I started checking out the weather -- 30-foot waves," Durham said.

The Milwaukee County Parks Department set up snow fencing along Bradford Beach to keep sand from blowing onto Lincoln Memorial Drive.

"We're starting to move our heavy equipment closer to the lakefront in the instance we might need it; front end loaders, things of that nature. If we wake up tomorrow morning and there's a big mess down here, we can get that cleared up sooner than later," Joe Roszak with the Parks Department

The gate to the walkway out into the lake was locked on Monday afternoon, October 29th to prevent people from getting too close to the dangerous waves.

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