Water department promises remedy after latest Detroit flooding

DETROIT (FOX 2) - It's not just Diane Lewis' furnace that she's lost to local flooding in her Detroit neighborhood.

"My water tank, my washer machine, my dryer, my deep freezer it’s come all the way up to my porch." she said outside a familiar sight on Stotter Street.

"This is our second or third time this year this has happened," she said.

After Southeast Michigan's Memorial Day weekend was capped off with an early-morning thunderstorm Monday, parts of the region found themselves waiting for receding waters.

That includes Minister, who lives in northwest Detroit neighborhood. So does Alesia Johnson, who has the latest standing water forcing her to ask when a fix is coming.

"I mean our taxes went up. They ask for extra money for pipe repair and we gave it to them this year. We gave it to them last year plus paid our water bill," said Johnson. "What are they doing for us?"

They're complaints that the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department has heard before. According to their director, the latest place for crews to work to remedy is on their list.

"We’re going to make this a priority," said director Gary Brown.

Like many neighborhoods, the cause of the flooding on Stotter Street are tree roots. 

"We’ve already been in the alley and cleaned out a lot of tree roots that are in our sewer line and we’ve got more to go," said Brown.

Along with removing the roots, DWSD plans to reline the sewers, which should add a permanent solution. He included a request for residents to keep trash out of the sewer lines. 

"That’s going to exacerbate the problem. It will get into the sewer and then it's going to gather with tree roots that are in there and make the sewer completely void of water being able to go through," said Brown.