Massive water main break floods east side Detroit neighborhood

DETROIT (WJBK) - At least a dozen basements are flooded near Palmer Park after a major water main break. The water inside many basements is about 1 to 2 feet high. 

A broken water main near Seven Mile and Dequindre is to blame for all this water. 

The people who live in one flooded home say they won't know what they've lost until all the water can get pumped out.

"It looks like you could go diving in it," said homeowner William Davenport.

Basement after basement in the neighborhood is flooded but William Davenport's is one of the worst FOX 2 saw.

"It's about four feet, five feet deep," he said.

The street is flooded, more than a block long and a foot deep in spots. But it is basements that took the brunt of the flooding.

"(My) washer and drier are floating," Davenport said.

And it is the same story a couple doors down.

"My freezer, washer, furnace, hot water tank, it's all ruined now because it’s filled with water," said George Cotton.

To add insult to injury their running water had to be shut off for now, and the stagnant pools in these basements are turning these homes into saunas with the heat.

George Cotton and his longtime friend Robert Lynn have lived on Greeley Street since the 1970s and this main break tops the list…and it will probably take days for the water to subside. 

"The pumps you put in the basement don't do any good because there is more going in than coming out," said Robert Lynn.

The main that broke belongs to the Palmer Park Residential Association, but Detroit Water and Sewer crews are stepping to make the repairs. 

The damage though, already done. 

"As far as getting stuff replaced, and if the water damage is really bad," Davenport said, "I don't know what's going to happen."