$15M in federal money going to protect Detroit residents' basements from future flooding
DETROIT (FOX 2) - "When is the city going to do something about the infrastructure," said Jacqueline Richmond last summer.
Richmond was one of 32,000 Detroit residents begging for help after yet another heavy rain left her basement flooded - full of water and sewage - her boiler, hot water heater, washer and dryer and everything else destroyed.
"I still don't have a washer or dryer - I still don't have a utility tub," she said.
That's Jacqueline now. More than six months later, she and many neighbors in the Jefferson Chalmers area - are still trying to put their lives back together.
"There's still a lot of seniors in this neighborhood that don't have any type of heat in their home at all," she said.
Because their boilers and furnaces were destroyed in the flood. Now the city implementing a plan to hopefully keep this from happening again.
"We're calling this hardening the basement so even though the rainstorm may be outside we want to protect your basement from the sewage backing up," Mayor Mike Duggan said.
Duggan says the $15 million basement backup protection program will install backwater valves and/or sump pumps to keep sewage out of the basements.
Funds are coming from the American Rescue Plan Act - and time is of the essence.
"Even though we have what is supposed to be a once in a 100-year storm, it's becoming clear to us that with climate change - we can't tell you it's not going to happen again and again," Duggan said.
This pilot program will begin in the spring in the Aviation sub on the west side near the Dearborn border - and in Victoria Park on the east side - the lowest-lying neighborhood in the city.
Phase two will begin this summer in Cornerstone Village, East English Village, Jefferson Chalmers, Morningside, Moross-Morang, Barton-McFarland, Chadsey Condon, Garden View, and Warrendale.
The city will pay up to $6,000 per household - homeowners will pay a deposit of 10 percent of the total cost, landlords will pay 20 percent. Fees will be waived for low-income Detroiters who qualify.
They're hoping to complete the project within two years. For Jacqueline Richmond, that can't come soon enough.
"I hope we never have to go through this again - I really do," she said. "I'm hoping that this is the beginning of helping us get over this and to heal, because this can't keep happening."
Residents can apply for the program by submitting an online application at detroitmi.gov/basementprotection or call DWSD at 313-267-8000.
