Detroit expands help for flood-prone neighborhoods like Jefferson Chalmers

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At an event on Saturday, public officials told Detroit’s District 4 residents about efforts to help neighborhoods prone to flooding , particularly Jefferson Chalmers . Now that climate change is making floods more frequent and severe, residents are finding out if the city’s infrastructure and assistance programs can adjust.

Officials did have some good news. A program to help residents stop water from backing up in their basements during a flood is being expanded. And, participants may be able to get more help than they may have originally thought with costly repairs that can lessen flooding. A similar program is launching for low-income residents across a larger portion of the city.

There were plenty of officials on hand to answer questions at Saturday’s event, billed as a Water Town Hall. City Councilmember Latisha Johnson, Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (DWSD) Director Gary Brown, Great Lakes Water Authority CEO Suzanne Coffey and state Sen. Stephanie Chang, D-Detroit, were present.

Presentations focused on what the city is doing to prevent flooding, and when it can’t, what it’s doing to help residents through flooding incidents.

To prevent flooding, DWSD is cleaning its sewer lines so they can function better at peak capacity. The department is currently cleaning 500-600 miles of sewer line each year, about 25% of the city’s total of roughly 2,400 miles, according to Chief Operating Officer Sam Smalley.

DWSD is working with the Michigan Department of Transportation to minimize the stormwater that enters the system. They plan to do so through highway improvements that will send the water directly to the Detroit River or divert it to slow down the flow into the city’s sewers.

To prevent home basement backups like those seen during the 2021 summer rainstorms , DWSD announced the Basement Backup Protection Program in early 2022 to help residents living in neighborhoods more prone to flooding.

The goal was to install backwater valves in homes across 11 flood-prone neighborhoods and sump pumps in locations where the water can be diverted to separate storm lines. Phase 1 of the program just concluded and serviced 324 homes in Aviation Sub and Victoria Park, according to Smalley. This month, Phase 2 kicked off for the remaining nine neighborhoods. Smalley said, right now, DWSD is servicing six to eight houses per week and hopes to ramp up to 20 per week soon.

More than 2,500 occupied houses have applied for Phase 2, DWSD spokesperson Bryan Peckinpaugh told Outlier Media. The current phase is funded with $4 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act grants, and the department continues to seek funding from other sources, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

It’s unclear how many homes will get serviced by the program before the funding runs out. Peckinpaugh said the department plans to complete improvements at the homes of 377 approved applicants in Jefferson Chalmers before moving on to the next neighborhood.

The program’s scope of repairs has tripled since its launch. It covered a maximum of $6,000 in repairs per household originally and will now cover up to $18,000, Peckinpaugh told Outlier. The change, he said, is because so many homes have needed repairs for broken or separated sewer laterals, the pipes that carry wastewater from the home to the city-owned sewer lines. The city did not cover this repair when the program began, but it will now pay to repair or replace those pipes if necessary.

The city’s Housing and Redevelopment Department has launched a similar program for low-income residents across 22 neighborhoods in Districts 4, 6 and 7.

Rico Razo, the housing department’s chief of home repair and neighborhood services, said those residents can apply for what is now called the Private Sewer Repair Program . The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is using its Community Development Block Grant Program to fund the city’s Private Sewer Repair Program. HUD excluded residents of Jefferson Chalmers because the neighborhood is in a federally-recognized flood plain.

City residents still needing to repair their homes or cover expenses from flooding that resulted from the storms during Aug. 24-26, 2023 can apply for help from FEMA until April 8. Residents can apply at DisasterAssistance.gov or by calling the FEMA Helpline at 800-621-3362 .

Detroit Documenters Ashley Williams and Benjamin Haddix contributed to this story .

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