Water main break turns Detroit street to ice rink, freezes out business

The new year unfortunately did not give us warmer temperatures as Detroit and the rest of the country is still frozen - and it's breaking more water pipes each day.

In southwest Detroit, cars are trapped and nd hopeful customers are frozen out of one business after a water main break turned a street into a river of ice.

Freezing temps cause rash of water main breaks

Haseht Mozit owns A1 Detroit Diesel on Trenton street in Detroit. Outside his business is lake ice frozen so solid, you can walk on it. His semi truck repair business is now frozen from the outside.

"This is ridiculous. Why do we pay taxes? We pay taxes to get services. If we can't get service, why are we paying taxes?" He wonders "We had a couple semi trucks that got stuck in here and I had to pull them out."

The water main break turned Trenton Street into an ice rink.

Jasmine Maciala-Gutierrez lives nearby and says this is nothing new.

"Every year, our basement gets flooded because all the water from the street comes into our home," she said. "We pay over $1,500 in taxes and this happens and it shouldn't be happening." 

To make everything worse, people decide to plow right through the standing water and ice - while others don't make it across. Mozit had to pull a woman's car out because she got stuck Tuesday morning.

He says there is a constant flood in the street all year round and that the city has made repairs but apparently not the right ones. He said it's been like this for three years.

"They bring people over here to clean the water but then 2 or 3 days later, we have the same problem," he said.

A spokesperson with the Detroit Water and sewer department says they're sending an inspector out on Tuesday to assess the situation and schedule repairs if needed. They're asking for residents and businesses patience in the meantime for water main breaks this season. 

Tuesday's break was so bad, it froze the front doors of the business shut. 

He said he's spent more than $1.5 million to get the business running but has some regrets now.

"I was going to open up in Livonia but said 'you know the city is having a come back and I want to rise with the city.' But it pulled me down, he said.