Detroit program to reduce basement flooding from storms
DETROIT (AP) — Detroit is starting a program to reduce chronic basement flooding during intense storms.
The program initially will target two neighborhoods and later expand to others, Mayor Mike Duggan said.
The strategy follows major rain events last summer that left thousands of basements flooded across the city.
Backwater valves or sump pumps will be installed in basements of homes. The valves open only when sewage is leaving a home. Sump pumps move water from a basement’s lowest point out of the home.
The initiative will be paid with federal money, up to $6,000 per household.
Phase one will launch in spring in the city’s Aviation Sub and Victoria Park neighborhoods. Phase two will start in summer in nine other neighborhoods.
A state of emergency was declared for Detroit and surrounding Wayne County communities following daylong rain in late June that flooded freeways and streets. More than 6 inches (15.2 centimeters) of rain fell in parts of the Detroit area, overloading sewer systems and flooding basements with rain water and sewage.
A few weeks later, another storm caused even more flooding.
Related News
From Archive

- 290-mile gas pipeline expansion proposed across Georgia, Alabama and South Carolina
- City of Albuquerque halts fiber optic construction in response to damage, complaints
- Body retrieved day after fatal trench collapse at Bakersfield, Calif., job site
- $227 million Garnet Valley water project advances, set to create 73,000 jobs in Nevada
- Pasadena, Calif., undergrounding project could take 500 years to finish
- Gehl and Mustang offer world’s largest skid loader
- Growing Pains and Gains
- Authorities investigating trench collapse that killed worker in Ashburn, Va.
- City of Albuquerque halts fiber optic construction in response to damage, complaints
- Pasadena, Calif., undergrounding project could take 500 years to finish
Comments