The Great Detroit Flood of 2011

[Meddle]

This is news? This was a common, almost annual occurrance while I was there.

You want flooding news? Read up on what's been happening along the Mississippi River over the last month or so.

[MikeM]

This is news? This was a common, almost annual occurrance while I was there.

It may not be "news" but it's probably the worst flooding since 1973.

[Ray1936]

Great pix, Jimaz. Thx.

Thanks for the offer, Lowell, but the outlook for Lake Mead this year is excellent. For a change.

[aoife]

Unless you live east of Ridge your storm drains are combined with the sanitary sewer system. The Farms' Kerby Road pumping station had a power outage that caused the pumps to get behind on the incoming flow. Not sure if they had the capacity to keep up even without the power disruption.

Thanks for the info- I was wondering why we all the streets up near Mack were swamps but the streets closer to the lake were fine. I thought for a minute that all of those jokes we made about the rapture were coming back to bite us.

[stasu1213]

I remember the great flood of 1976. That was a monster in michigan

[econ expat]

I wonder if pouring the water into the basement sink is helping at all. Depending on which drain is backing up, might that water not just go right back into the flood?

Few years ago there was high water in Rouge River through Lola Valley in Redford.
Water very very close to submerging the bridge for Garfield street.
Neighbors were watching 'Lola Valley Lake' and discussing how just a little more water would wash out the bridge.
Someone said "Guess we better not flush the toilets for awhile"

[begingri]

[[Not So) Pure Michigan: Monsoon Season- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLaVU...ature=youtu.be

[CLAUDE G]

We have a plugged drain in back of our house, so we ended up with a trickle of water coming in at one edge of the basement. It politely went to the storm drain and left without making a big puddle. It did wet some boxes of records that happened to be right where it came in. We created a shunt for the backed up drain for now, hope to repair it once the rain stops. Elsewhere in Southfield, the Rouge and its tributaries and former tributaries are all at maximum capacity.

I wonder if pouring the water into the basement sink is helping at all. Depending on which drain is backing up, might that water not just go right back into the flood?

Most homes have the sanitary sewer and the storm drain connected togther about 10 feet outside of the home, so if your basement is flooded there is a good chance it will not do any good unless the storm drain is plugged up before your storm drain joins with the sanitary sewer.

If the backyard is flooded and your pumping water down your basement sink, all your doing is simply making it someone elses problem, as adding more water into the sewer could potentially back up in someone elses basement if the system is near capacity, or the city has to deal with it at their retention basin.

Best solution is to pump the water to your backyard and let it soak into the ground

[Zacha341]

Yeah, parts of Southfield and Oak Park suffer the same fate. What is "Red Red"?

Berkley & Royal Oak are notorious for being soggy in heavy rains. The area used to be swampland, is flat, and drains poorly. It doesn't help that they buried Red Red back in the 1920s so there are no natural drainage channels streams.

[MikeM]

What is "Red Red"?

Red Run Creek.


Wednesday's rain - over 3" across the north side of Detroit:





For the week, in Detroit, rain amounts over 600% of the normal for this period:

[Jimaz]

Utica's floating canoe launch floated right off a pier. They needed taller piers.

Attachment 9835

Attachment 9834

[MikeM]

From the Detroit NWS office:

Detroit Metro Airport has received 14.60 inches of preciptiation during the 2011 spring season, making it the 2nd wettest on record. The wettest spring on record for Detroit occurred in 1947 when 16.31 inches fell. Detroit's records date back to 1874.

To put the wet weather into another perspective, Detroit has had 52 days of measurable precipitation this spring including May 29. The average for spring is 37 days of measurable precipitation for Detroit. This places 2011 in first place for the most days of precipitation during the spring.

[MikeM]

The area was soaked to begin with. The morning of the 25th, Wayne County needed only an inch of rain in an hour or less than two inches in six hours to trigger flash-flood conditions:







By the folowing day the entire region was extremely wet:

[Jimaz]

Utica's floating canoe launch floated right off a pier. They needed taller piers.

Each pier is surrounded by a box containing four rollers. One of the rollers became caught on the edge of that pier as the flood receded. It's bent now. Maybe welding steel cones on top of the piers would suffice to guide the rollers over the edge more gracefully.

[MikeM]

For aoife:

From: http://grossepointetoday.com/news/ci...s-city-council ...

Tom Biehl of the engineering firm Hubbell, Roth & Clark briefed the council about the three major issues that occurred on May 25 that slowed the drainage process immensely. The first was that the storm exceeded a 100-year storm for a 24-hour period, dropping 2.7 inches of rain in an hour, and 4.2 inches in an 18-hour period. The Farms hasn’t experienced a storm of that degree since 1946, Biel said.

Second, the ground was already saturated from rainfall over the previous weeks, so the water immediately ran off into the combined sewage system.

Finally, power surges at the height of the storm reduced a number of the pumps’ capacity. It was only for a few minutes, but that was enough to complicate the problem.

Also: http://grossepointe.patch.com/articl...e-pointe-farms ...

As required by law, the Farms mailed residents who contacted the city regarding their flooded basement damage a letter and claims form. The letter outlines that if residents believe the Farms pumping system malfunctioned and the city should have had reasonable knowledge of the potential problem before it happened, they can file a claim with the city's insurance carrier.

Reeside said more than 200 homeowners have called to add their home to the list, which continues to grow. Only a handful of claims have been submitted thus far, however, Reeside said.

The claims will be submitted for the insurance carrier's review and the insurance carrier will accept or deny the claims, Reeside said. In situations such as these, the claims, he said, are unlikely to be accepted because the storm was an act of nature that could not have been controlled and the system worked as it should.

[mam2009]

Thanks for posting those articles MikeM. Cof D is investigating the source of our problems in Detroit south of Jefferson and west of Alter Rd. and East of Conner/Clairpointe Rd. Hopefully, they will be as forthcoming with us as GPF has been with its residents.