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$346 million of infrastructure improvements from federal government coming to help Detroit
The Biden administration is giving the city money from the Disaster Recovery Grant funds from HUD after the 2023 flooding.
DETROIT (FOX 2) - Backed up basements — filled with old sewage — ruining furnaces, furniture — and homesteads.
Detroit’s devastating flooding from August in 2023 that impacted thousands of residents.
"We’ve got a sewer system built to handle 4 inches of rain in a 24-hour period, which was great for the 20th Century," said Mayor Mike Duggan. "We’ve now had two incidents where it’s 5.5 and 6 inches of rain - and what happens then is the basements in the city back up, and it’s devastating."
The City of Detroit working to make flooded basements a thing of the past, helped by $346 million from the federal government to improve infrastructure.
"What could we do that would have the biggest impact on Detroit residential homes?" said Gary Brown, Detroit Water and Sewerage Department. "That’s repairing the lateral sewer lines."
The Biden administration is giving the city money from the Disaster Recovery Grant funds from HUD after the 2023 flooding.
The city has to use that money to prioritize repairing clogged and collapsed alley sewers.
"Within the next two years we’re hopeful we’ll affect 10,000 homes in the City of Detroit," Brown said.
For perspective, the City spent about $50 million in capital on repairing sewers last year — this is nearly seven times that amount.
The plan is to start in densely populated neighborhoods with heavily damaged sewer lines — and Detroiters will have a chance to make their voices heard.
"We'll identify through the data HUD provides what was most impacted in that storm. We'll provide public input opportunities to residents and develop what’s called an action plan," said Julie Schneider of Detroit's Housing and Revitalization Department.
The city has 120 days to finalize that action plan.