Pump station in St. Clair Shores fails briefly due to DTE power issue amid Friday's rain, flooding

CLINTON TWP., Mich. (FOX 2) - All across Metro Detroit, companies that offer plumbing services are being flooded with calls.

Macomb County was hit the hardest with torrential rainfall across Southeast Michigan Friday starting in the early morning hours.

Over in St Clair Shores there was one issue.

"There was an Algier storm pump station in St. Clair Shores that did go down," said Dustin Lent, St. Clair Shores city manager. "It was a power outage went down for approximately a little over an hour. That is a storm pump station which is what takes a lot of the water from the streets and pumps it away and gets it to the lake, and that did go down for about an hour."

Some spots on freeways in Macomb County like at I-696 and I-94 were also hit hard.

In a statement, MDOT's Diane Cross told FOX 2:

"The 696/94 freeways have now reopened. The pump station for that area was only receiving half power from DTE and it wasn’t enough power to run pumps at full strength."

FOX 2 reached out to DTE for an explanation and we received a statement which reads in part:

"The power to 14 customers, including this pump station, was reduced due to an equipment issue. We were just recently informed of the issue and are working to make the needed repairs as quickly as possible. As always, we encourage customers to report any power issues."

"We apologize for any inconvenience this has caused."

Related: Flood warning underway for Macomb County until late Friday night

"Well torrential rain is a good way to put it," said Candice Miller, Public Works commissioner, Macomb County. "Not only did we get over three inches of rain the intensity of the rainfall was incredible."

Warren Mayor Lori Stone released a statement about the rapid rainfall the city experienced Thursday overnight into the early hours of Friday morning.

"The City of Warren experienced a flood event caused by torrential rainfall. Preliminary estimates show that the south-end of Warren received approximately 2 inches of rainfall in about one hour. In the north-end of the City, it is estimated that at least 3 inches of rain fell within one hour."

From flooded streets to flooded basements, many residents and drivers were forced to deal with the impact.

"I took the detour and as I’m coming to Hoover I hit a wave and become a boat at that point," said one driver.

But as some areas flooded officials in Macomb County want to make this clear.

"Our pump station at the foot of Nine Mile and Jefferson did not fail, we have three enormous pumps there and all those pumps were running," Miller said. "As a result of all that rain we had to use what is known as our emergency bypass.

"By doing that I’m sure we save hundreds if not thousands of homes."