Freeways reopen, neighborhoods still dealing with flooding

The heavy rain turned many highways into lakes. Now, the Michigan Department of Transportation says all freeways are back open - but there are still big problems in the neighborhoods.

On side streets residents are dealing with too much water and too little time. Flooded basements and flooded streets.

"Every street you walk down is messed up," said one man.

St. Clair on Detroit's eastside is one of those streets. One man had to be rescued off the roof of his car.

"I didn't want to jump in that water with all the trash and debris," said Paul Candela. "You don't want to be in that kind of water."

Crews from MDOT and Detroit Water and Sewer Department were doing what they can to clear debris from storm drains.

"We are responding as we receive calls for different issues," said Palencia Mobley, deputy director and chief engineer, DWSD. "We are responding as quickly as possible."

"You can only handle so much water in a particular system over a certain amount of time," said Diane Cross, Michigan Department of Transportation spokesperson. "There just is nowhere else for it to go.

"Even if MDOT could pump the water off the roadway, you have to realize the local sewer systems in each of these communities - if they don't have the ability to take the water based on the size of their sewer system, we have nowhere to pump the water to. There are many pieces to this kind of puzzle."

Back on the city's east side,  a fire truck was towed after getting stuck in high water on Harding Street.

And on the city's west side on Martindale, Mother Nature was proving she is a force to be reckoned with.