Detroit freeway flooding worsened by power outages that shut down water pumps

No end in sight for freeway floods on I-94, I-75

It's going to be a while before the flooding recedes from some of Detroit's most flood-prone freeways after weekend storms dropped enough water to blanket main roads coming in and out of the city. And once the water does recede, there will be plenty of cleanup before they reopen.

DETROIT - According to Dearborn's fire chief, last weekend's flooding was actually worse than the historic storm that saturated much of Metro Detroit and traumatized residents.

"…this is definitely worse than that one," said chief Joseph Murray.

And the evidence of severe weather that fell Friday and Saturday was still floating in the low points of I-94 and the Lodge Freeway Monday morning.

Part of the reason for the several feet of standing water that immobilized traffic routes into Detroit was the flood-prone areas of Detroit's freeways. As Diane Cross with the Michigan Department of Transportation told FOX 2 Sunday morning, "all water goes to the lowest point - gravity right?"

But another reason was the failures of the freeway's water pumps.

According to the MDOT, power outages reported by DTE took down operating pumps that are used to move water away from the freeways. A release from the department said it turned on temporary generators to restart flood mitigation efforts on freeways, freeing up the majority of them except for I-94 in Detroit and Dearborn between Greenfield and I-75.

"Those other freeways, such as I-96, M-10, and I-75 can be used as detour routes during the I-94 closure.," read a release Sunday night.

Currently, temporary generators are powering pump houses at three of the four I-94 locations. Unfortunately, that won't be enough to move the water away from the streets because "there is nowhere for additional water to go."

While the department may have had a chance to remove more of the flooding along I-94 during the onset of the severe weather, power outages stopped any progress. Now, with most rivers and creeks in the area filled with high waters from the seven inches of rain that fell over the weekend, moving the water wouldn't help.

MDOT says once the waterways begin to subside, the pumps will be able to move the floodwaters off I-94.

But there are still dozens of vehicles stranded on the freeway that will need to be moved before travel can resume. Debris will also need to be cleared.

The governor will tour some of the worst-hit places today around 12:40 p.m. and Detroit officials Mike Duggan and Gary Brown will deliver an update at 2 p.m. A Fema update is also expected around 5 p.m.

The Associated Press contributed to this report