Elderly Detroit woman is living with no heat after summer floods destroyed her boiler

DETROIT (FOX 2) - Henrietta O'Neal is keeping warm as best she can.

"Usually I have all these burners going and the oven on," she said.

The 72-year-old east sider was one of thousands of Metro Detroiters whose basements were flooded with sewage during the heavy storms last summer.

"I’ve been here 42 years, it will be 43 years on the 30th of March," she said. "And in the time these years, last year 2021, that’s the worst I’ve ever had water in my basement. four feet of water."

Her washer, dryer, and hot water heater were destroyed as well as the boiler that heats her nearly 100-year-old home.

"I had a couple of people come out to look at it," O'Neal said. "They said no you can’t repair it because it’s a modern boiler and all the electronics were destroyed because it was submerged."

She says she received some funds from FEMA to replace some appliances but not the boiler - which is the most expensive.

"Not one dime," she said.

FOX 2: "Why?"

"I don’t know," she said. "Now I have to do an appeal to get them to look back at my case."

According to FEMA, about 100,409 people in Metro Detroit affected by those storms last summer applied for assistance.

As of last week, only a little more than half (54,784) of those applications had been approved.

FEMA says about 767 applications are currently in process, including people asking for more help and those appealing an initial FEMA decision.

Henrietta O'Neal is using her oven to heat her house.

As the winter temps drop below freezing, O'Neal is using her oven and electric heaters to keep her house warm and her plumbing from freezing. All the while, she hopes FEMA approves the funds to replace her boiler.

"I feel that they should be willing to help us any way that we need help," she said.

FEMA says they cannot comment on individual cases but promised to reach out to O'Neal. She says that did not happen, but she had to call them.

She says a local nonprofit is working to try speed up the process with FEMA, and get her some help

Online resources:

For more information about Michigan’s recovery, visit fema.gov/disaster

Contact a FEMA representative at 800-621-3362 or visit DisasterAssistance.gov.