DETROIT (WXYZ) — People living on the city's east side say they feel like Friday’s rain is round two.
“This is too soon. I haven’t finished cleaning up from the first flood,” said Phyllis Torrence.
Torrence lives on Chatsworth Street. After the June 25th/June 26th floods she purchased a water pump she said knew would come in handy.
“Hook it up. Run it out to the back and within 45 it got most of the water out,” she said.
Others in the city spent the day wiping down their basements.
Carrie McCoy lives on Worden Street.
“I keep running up and down the basement stairs. I keep a mop bucket and a mop,” said McCoy.
While some homeowners are trying to clean, city leaders are on the roads.
“We have our big blue vacuum trucks that are going out and clearing any basins that may be blocked and clearing the street,” said Gary Brown, Director of Detroit Water and Sewerage Department.
He says crews were also in neighborhoods dealing with basement flooding. This is an issue neighbors say they’ve seen get worse over the years.
“My father worked for the water board for 30 years and he said that the lines are too small for the amount of homes in this rain,” Torrence adds.
Brown says she’s right.
“When it was built, it was built for a rainfall 50, 70 a hundred years ago. With global warming the rain is more intense and frequent,” adds Brown.
He says the city is working on ways to make the system resilient but replacing the pipes is not the answer.
“Because there are 3,000 miles of sewer pipe so you can’t replace all the pipes,” he explains.
Torrence says whatever the solution is, she hopes the city comes up with the answer very soon.
“FIX IT! What did the governor say, ‘Fix the roads? Fix the lines,” she demands.
If you need immediate help with cleaning and sanitizing in Detroit call 313-267-8000.
You can also call United Way of Southeastern Michigan at 2-1-1 for immediate flood assistance.
