It seems that flooding is becoming more and more frequent in the Detroit metropolitan area.
On August 24, 2023, highways and streets turned into canals after numerous reports of 3 to 5 inches of rain in just six hours.
On June 26, 2021, a similar sight unfolded in southeast Michigan. Roads were impassable and basements destroyed. The threat of mold persisted long after the waters receded.
A decade ago, there was also a memorable and historic flood.
“That was once upon a time… not once in a lifetime, because things change,” said Keith Hogan of Warren. “We’re getting really bad rains now, where the rainfall is much higher than before. Times are changing. The climate is changing.”
A warmer climate leads to more evaporation and more moisture in the atmosphere. On August 11, 2014, the Detroit metropolitan area received 4 to 6 inches of rain in just four hours. Detroit Metro Airport received 4.5 inches, the second highest rainfall total ever recorded in one day at that location. The highest official rainfall total at that location was 4.7 inches, recorded on July 31, 1925.
Because the damage amounted to over one billion dollars, the government declared Michigan a major disaster.
Hogan lives next to Red Run, a small river that is part of the sewer system. He remembers having to abandon his car nearly a mile from home. He remembers walking through waist-deep water with his son.
“When we got home, of course, the water level was too high to move the vehicles and it was coming into the house. We tried to fight it with dirty water pumps and keep the water out.”
The water rose three feet in front of the house and three feet in the basement due to the sewer backup. The flooding destroyed all four of the family’s vehicles. Replacing the cars, repairing the house and new appliances cost about $95,000, he said.
“I still have structural damage that I haven’t repaired yet, like the porch is starting to collapse. But it takes a long time to get back to where you were.
A few kilometers further south, Detroit was hit hard. The city continues to struggle with torrential rain.
“We’re not seeing a significant increase in water volume year-over-year, but we’re definitely seeing more severe storms,” said Sam Smalley, deputy director of the Detroit Water and Sewerage Authority.
He said the regional system that Detroit built for most of southeast Michigan, which is now largely operated by the Great Lakes Water Authority, was designed to handle 1.7 inches (43 mm) of rainfall per hour, but “some of the storms we’re experiencing are well above that.”
This amount is about half of the average rainfall of 8.3 centimeters for the entire August in the Detroit metropolitan area.
Although several agencies across the region are investing in drainage improvement projects, “building a completely new system would be incredibly expensive, easily costing billions of dollars,” Smalley said. “So what we can do is make sure the system we have today has as much capacity as possible.”
This can be achieved by using retention basins that hold back the water and allow it to seep back into the system.
What can you do at home? He urges Metro Detroit residents to disconnect downspouts from the sewer system and allow rainwater to flow onto lawns.
He urges people to never pour grease down the drain and to keep catch basins free of leaves or debris. He is also a proponent of rain gardens, which help slow and limit the amount of water that goes into sewers. (Loss of vegetation and more concrete surfaces contribute to flooding in cities.)
In Warren, Hogan wants to see less vegetation in Red Run in the hopes that it will flow better and cause less flooding.
“It’s happened several times since then, but not as bad as 2014,” he said. “Not nearly as bad.”
Check with your community about flood prevention options. In Detroit, learn more about the Basement Backup Protection Program here.
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