GROSSE POINTE PARK, Mich. (WXYZ) — Neighbors in the Grosse Pointes are fed up with the flooding and the rain. Friday’s downpour caused streets and basements to swell with water once again.
Grosse Pointe Park families were fighting a losing battle Friday, trying to keep the water out of their homes, even trying to clear city drains themselves.
“Nothing we did worked, we hadn’t seen any water drawing into the drains whatsoever,” said one neighbor on Lakepointe.
Barbara Belser also lives on Lakepointe. Her basement filled with water for the second time in three weeks.
“How do you recover?” Belser asked, frustrated after the massive storms on June 25 and 26 devastated her home.
“The damage that it took to clean [that] was $9,500. I lost both furnaces, hot water tank, my washer and dryer. I lost my husband’s motorcycle. Every one of us lost our lives,” Belser said, through tears.
Now, Belser and her neighbors are demanding answers from city officials.
“The council kept saying it’s a 100 time flood, it’s a 500 – it’s not. It happens every time. So many of us tried to tell city council you’ve got to look at the infrastructure,” said Belser. She and her neighbors say Lakepointe frequently floods.
“I’m very angry! Our basement right now is completely gutted,” said Victoria Paulitz, who lives on Bishop.
Paulitz’s basement filled with water again Friday. Furious, she called the city, but says they told her if the flooding had been a city issue the water would have come through a certain drain.
“Then they left because the water receded, and about 10 minutes after they left we started getting water coming up from that specific drain that he said would have been the city’s problem,” said Paulitz. “This isn’t how we should have to live and right now, the residents of Grosse Pointe Park have to live like this. It’s unacceptable.”
Neighbors in the Pointes say everyone wants long term answers from city, county and state officials to keep this from happening again.
We did reach out to Grosse Pointe Park city officials to ask about the flooding problems, so far we have not heard back. We will keep trying to get answers.
