Southwest Detroit flood restorations are moving on schedule, says Mayor Duggan
DETROIT (FOX 2) - Four weeks have passed since a water main break left hundreds displaced in Detroit, and city leaders say progress has been made in restoring the neighborhood.
What they're saying:
Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan spoke to the media on Wednesday and thanked the organizations that jumped in to help the community of Rowan Street. The plan to restore the street was expected to conclude six weeks after the disaster, and Duggan said workers are right on schedule.
"We could not have begun to do this without the volunteers from this community that trusted voices from the neighborhood," Duggan said. "It took a while before we were completely in sync. And each one of the 200 families had their own story. It wasn't like there was one solution. Everybody had their own situation."
By the numbers:
City officials say 200 of the 400 homes in the area had their basements flooded, 110 lost their furnaces, 90 lost their hot water heaters and 200 residents were moved to hotels.
"Just because you moved into a hotel doesn't mean your problems were solved," said Duggan. "Folks were in hotels, had to get kids to school, had to get themselves to their jobs, had to get back here for appointments so that the house could be restored, and the furnace could be repaired."
Here is what Detroit leaders say was accomplished just two weeks into restoration:
- Half of the 110 furnaces were replaced.
- 60 of 90 hot water heaters were replaced.
- Residents in hotels have gone down from 200 to 100, 30 moving back home.
"There will be a handful of individual situations," he said. "We've got some houses that had
significant structural problems before the flood, that are more complicated. When you get
into, hot water heaters and plumbing, we've got a couple that have pipes that were burst
that are going to be, more significant repairs."
What's next:
The mayor said the groups are now moving on with insurance to help claim items that were lost or damaged in the flood. City officials say they are calling each resident one by one to help evaluate what was lost. Meanwhile, the Great Lakes Water Association (GLWA) and Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (DWSD) will reportedly
split the costs on insurance claims.
There are two forms residents need to complete, including one for claims and sewage backup HERE.
Duggan said they expect to have all claims settled within 45 days.
"We've made this a very seamless process for the community," said Director Gary Broan with the Board of Water Commissioners. "They simply go on to our website, pull down a claim form once they pull that claim form down, the, the insurance adjuster will call them, tell them that they've received it, and set up an appointment to come right out and start reviewing the damage at the property and settling, those claims so that we can get those done in a very quick manner."
The city is expected to spend up to $10 million when everything is complete.
The backstory:
On Feb. 17, a 54-inch water main broke in the area of N. Green and Rowan streets. The water flowed for blocks, filling streets, flooding basements, and trapping residents in their homes.
DWSD Director Brown said it was the worst water main break he has seen in a densely populated area in the 10 years he has been running the department. The water was drained and crews worked to replace the broken pipe that was originally installed 100 years ago, which was cut out and replaced.
The city said it would take about two weeks to get the water main repaired – which was repaired last week.
But repairing the pipe and getting water back in is only part of the solution. The city has pledged to cover repairs and replacements of furnaces, water tanks, appliances, and more.
Repair work at the site of the Southwest Detroit water main break / Credit: GLWA Facebook
The Source: FOX 2 used information from a presser on Rowan Street and previous stories.