Warming, Extreme Weather, Poverty A Perfect Storm In Detroit Neighborhoods Hit By Repeated Flooding

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Record high Great Lakes water levels repeatedly push floodwaters into the Jefferson Chalmers community near the Detroit River, pictured here on July 7, 2019. Jim West/Zuma Wire

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The deluge submerged homes and highways and stranded residents. It also marked the fifth time Henderson’s basement had flooded in just three years — four times after intense rainfall overwhelmed the city’s wastewater system, triggering backups of sewage and stormwater into her basement, and once from a water main break. City officials have repeatedly pointed to climate change as the main culprit in last month’s flood, when Detroit was overwhelmed by as much as 8 inches of rain in less than 19 hours. Weather stations in and around Detroit set records for the most amount of rainfall within a 24-hour period during the storm, according to the National Weather Service. Thousands of basements were flooded, causing widespread damage and prompting Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) to declare a state of emergency. The White House has since issued a disaster declaration, freeing up federal funds.

The storms offer a foreboding glimpse of Detroit’s new reality in a warming world: flooding intensified by high water levels on Lake Erie and the other Great Lakes. And the floods have also churned up debate about the management of Detroit’s aging flood-control system and whether officials are taking steps to harden the system against what’s becoming a regular drumbeat of record-setting storms.

Much of the attention has zeroed in on the Great Lakes Water Authority, or GLWA. Established in the wake of Detroit’s bankruptcy proceedings, GLWA leases and controls the bulk of the city’s water and sewage system. The water authority in an email said its “management of the system was not the cause of flooding” last month but that the regional water system was overwhelmed by the amount and intensity of rain from the 1,000-year storm. GLWA also said it ran into operational problems, including electricity issues at pump stations needed to raise water out of low-lying areas in east Detroit like the Marina District. In the majority-Black Marina District, floods are taking a toll with expensive repairs and growing health threats, including mold. Lining the curbs of Henderson’s neighborhood were heaps of soggy boxes, planks of wood, abandoned toys and other belongings awaiting pickup.

Henderson, 68, said she’s suffering from headaches, asthma and was recently hospitalized for pulmonary embolism, or blood clots in her lungs. She’s concerned the mold that’s been detected in her basement is complicating her health problems. Each flood has also cost Henderson at least $125,000 in damages — roughly $625,000 total — from ripping out basement walls, cleaning up mold, repairing electrical wiring throughout the house and replacing damaged appliances. Private insurance only covers $10,000 in damages for each event, which has forced Henderson and her husband, Maurice, to take out loans, exhaust their savings and rely on family support to pay for fixes and remediation.

Henderson said she fully believes climate change is to blame for fueling the rash of record-breaking downpours, but she wants city officials to explain what happened to the pump stations and what Detroit is going to do before the next storm hits. “We have all of these scientists and engineers and environmental folks warning that things are going to change, but what are you going to do? We’re supposed to have plans for disasters,” she said. “I shouldn’t have to leave. I don’t want to leave. But I’m not sure I can do this any longer.”

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Detroit has installed orange flood control barriers around the canals on the city’s east side to protect homes from flooding. The “tiger dam” barriers are flexible tubes filled with water, pictured here July 8. | Hannah Northey/E&E News

https://www.eenews.net/articles/historic-floods-fuel-misery-rage-in-detroit/