Raining in Detroit - Expressways and Homes Flooded

[Henry Whalley]

"The Big Lift" is a nice photo tour. Thank you for posting it!

You're welcome. Constructing 'The Big Lift' took twenty years, in addition to an untold number of years planning and designing it. The original pumps were Westinghouse made domestically, but are being replaced by Hitachi because neoliberalism killed our industrial base. I'm out of room to post more photos, but see this link for a graph of the climate change timeline. The moral of the story being that big infrastructure projects require wisdom to plan ahead, as in the children's fable of the Three Little Pigs and the Big Bad Wolf, among the first stories I remember from childhood.

2ddfdc387493985a918b842ce02a7e35.jpg [[1024×1024) [[pinimg.com)

[softailrider]

https://www.wxyz.com/news/what-cause...e%20have%20now.

The wettest day in Detroit ever was on July 31, 1925, when
4.75" of rain fell within one day. So that was our first thousand
five hundred one hundred or whatever you like storm.
For sure it was a 100 year storm. So then the next 100
year storm would be predicted to occur in 2025.

4.57" fell at Detroit Metro Airport on August 11, 2014,
which qualifies that rainfall as the second highest in one
day for Detroit. That's close enough to 2025 so it can
also be a 100 year storm, following on the heels of the
July 1925 storm plus 100 minus about a decade.

But then...no more storms like it until the year 2114?

As far as the 4.75 inch record, if my soup can rain gauge is accurate, we got considerably more then that at my house.

[313WX]

FFS. The drainage system in SE Michigan is a travesty...

Heavy rain floods Metro Detroit freeways; I-94 closed between I-75, I-96

https://www.detroitnews.com/story/ne...in/7990468002/

[Jimaz]

This would be a good location for a DUKW dealership. Opportunity's knocking!

[Danny]

Did everyone start building their arks? The Biblical Flood has returned.

Most basements are being turned into cesspools.

[Henry Whalley]

Did everyone start building their arks? The Biblical Flood has returned.

And remember to take a pair of camels because they will be needed in the Desert Southwest.

[Jimaz]

If you think it's wet here, take a look at Germany and Belgium. Yikes!

Homes destroyed, death toll rises in Europe deluge

[Dumpling]

This is the CNN article on this flooding in Germany and Belgium.


https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/16/europ...ntl/index.html

"Heavier localized downpours resulted in extreme flash flooding."

[Zacha341]

Not again! More flooding hits basements in Detroit...


https://www.freep.com/story/news/loc...in/7994871002/

From article:

...One business got drenched with 3 feet of water, while residents saw stormwater start gushing into their homes and reaching 6 inches within a few hours, hitting residents in Detroit's Cornerstone Village, East English Village, Morningside and the Pointes.

...floods continue to pound Detroit

https://www.mlive.com/public-interes...ce-crisis.html

From article:

...Pumping water from swamped basements is a frustratingly familiar exercise for Detroiters, particularly in low-income neighborhoods that experience flooding year after year. It’s increasingly seen as an environmental justice crisis that goes beyond the deluge at the end of June.

[Zacha341]

Not a good time to purchase a used car... so many will be salvaged titled from being underwater.

FFS. The drainage system in SE Michigan is a travesty...

Heavy rain floods Metro Detroit freeways; I-94 closed between I-75, I-96

https://www.detroitnews.com/story/ne...in/7990468002/

[Dumpling]

This is a Detroit News article again - in particular, in it,
there is a screen shot of the NWS forecast as of 5 am for
the Detroit area for 7/16/2021, and the highest estimated
rainfall was predicted to be 2.25 inches, and the area where
this rainfall was expected to occur was northern Wayne County
and southern Oakland County.

'It's happening again': Floods soak Metro Detroit homes, roadways [[detroitnews.com)

I live in Warrendale, close to Dearborn. The five gallon bucket
gauge in the backyard measured four inches yesterday evening.
The WWTP/WRRF plant gauge measured just under three inches
total for 7/16/2021.

This is not as bad as getting seven or eight inches when
only two to three inches were forecast, but it does approach
"100 year storm" values, less than a month after we were
looking at 100 year storm quantities.

[Meddle]

If you think it's wet here, take a look at Germany and Belgium. Yikes!

Arizona, parts of the upper east including NY and PA, also areas of Ohio.

One estimated rainfall map I saw of parts of MO/IL showed nearly 10 inches, but I'm not sure that was accurate.

[Dumpling]

Here is a map that is supposed to show rainfall totals in
various areas of metro Detroit based on Doppler radar
images. The rain amounts do seem to be around three
to four inches across most of the metropolis for the rain
event ending earlier today [Saturday 7/17/2021]. Since this
rain map is supposed to keep updating I will take this post
down in the near future.

https://www.iweathernet.com/total-ra...rs-to-72-hours

This may be the map Meddle mentioned. Fredonia, Kansas,
received more than ten inches.

It shows the Michigan Avenue and Greenfield Road intersection
receiving 4.7 inches.

Grosse Pointe Farms received 4.8 inches. "Cobo Center" received
5.04 inches [aka TCF center].

All of Saint Clair Shores received more than three inches.

Sanilac received a sprinkle - 0.02 inches.

[13606Cedargrove]

Can you send some of that rain our way here in SoCal?

[Ray1936]

Can you send some of that rain our way here in SoCal?

But make Las Vegas the first stop..................

[Pam]

Video from last night.

https://youtu.be/qK9cMiD_uC4

[Henry Whalley]

Video from last night.

The automakers should start selling amphibious cars like the old VW Schwimmwagen. And camels for the Desert Southwest.

And we should start building our houses on stilts or pontoons.

[Honky Tonk]

Video from last night.

https://youtu.be/qK9cMiD_uC4

I like the GLWA statement "it's working as designed". I wish I were sitting in on the meeting where it was proposed that we install and maintain a sewer system that floods the roads everytime there's a heavy rain.

[GPCharles]

When the rains hit, key Detroit pump station had been out of power for days. Here's why [[yahoo.com)

[Honky Tonk]

When the rains hit, key Detroit pump station had been out of power for days. Here's why [[yahoo.com)

"The Great Lakes Water Authority has promised an independent investigation into the flood, with a specific focus on the power outage last month that maimed the Freud pump station ahead of what's been described as a 1,000-year rain event."

Looks like water isn't the only thing flowing freely at GLWA. Next time something goes down in my area at work, I'm going to tell management it was the "1000 year glitch".

[jcole]

It's the same in Clawson, Berkley, RO, etc. The cement some of the holes in the sewer covers to throttle the water flow into the sewer system to keep basements from flooding out. Saturday night, the mayor was on FB telling people to leave the debris covering the other holes alone because our streets are meant to be "retention ponds" in the event of heavy rain.
Here was my street the other night.
I particularly like the way the porch lights reflect off the lake at twilight...

I like the GLWA statement "it's working as designed". I wish I were sitting in on the meeting where it was proposed that we install and maintain a sewer system that floods the roads everytime there's a heavy rain.

[jcole]

Another angle; if you squint, it's almost like the Canals of Venice...

[Jimaz]

... The cement some of the holes in the sewer covers to throttle the water flow into the sewer system to keep basements from flooding out. Saturday night, the mayor was on FB telling people to leave the debris covering the other holes alone because our streets are meant to be "retention ponds" in the event of heavy rain....

That's interesting. Are you saying they deliberately let the streets flood so that there's more room in the storm drains for the basement water?

I've always heard the opposite advice: clear the debris from street drains before a heavy rain so the streets don't flood but I guess it depends on the specific circumstances.

Thanks. I learned something.

Many years ago after a major flood I noticed the Clinton River overflowed in River Bends Park in Shelby Twp. There was a vast, really vast, flooded area in the park that was normally used only for recreational disc golf, etc. That's an ideal retention pond. Golf can wait. Traffic has to move.

[jcole]

Clawson has a single sewer system which I think means that the sewage and storm water share a sewer. I the water from the streets doesn't get throttled, it can cause the sewers to back up into the basements which means lot of sewage rising from the drains. During Latrina, or the Great Flood of 2014, water was geysering up from floor drains, sinks, you name it. It was gross. Some people around here had issues on Saturday night, but we were fortunate to just have some seepage down the walls. If the streets don't drain out and we get hit with more rain quickly, it will back up the driveways and run down the walls or blow the manholes.

That's interesting. Are you saying they deliberately let the streets flood so that there's more room in the storm drains for the basement water?

I've always heard the opposite advice: clear the debris from street drains before a heavy rain so the streets don't flood but I guess it depends on the specific circumstances.

Thanks. I learned something.

Many years ago after a major flood I noticed the Clinton River overflowed in River Bends Park in Shelby Twp. There was a vast, really vast, flooded area in the park that was normally used only for recreational disc golf, etc. That's an ideal retention pond. Golf can wait. Traffic has to move.

[Gistok]

Many years ago after a major flood I noticed the Clinton River overflowed in River Bends Park in Shelby Twp. There was a vast, really vast, flooded area in the park that was normally used only for recreational disc golf, etc. That's an ideal retention pond. Golf can wait. Traffic has to move.

Some areas along the Clinton River are considered "flood plains", especially recreational areas along the river, and cannot be built upon.

The German Carpathia Club on Utica Rd. between Hayes and Schoenherr has a large flood plain that is their soccer field. It took them a lot of jumping thru hoops just to get them to allow a soccer field on that flood plain.