Swamped Detroit neighborhood finally gets help

Remaining residents on Farnsworth Street say they feel neglected by city

DETROIT – A street on Detroit's east side only has two houses left and the people there don't want to leave, but flooding is making life tough.

Jerry Jackson feels like he lives in Detroit's forgotten neighborhood. Since he arrived in 1972, the diverse, populous block has withered to just two homes.

"It's quiet and it's peaceful and I don't want to lose my house," he said.

But in the last few years a new neighbor has moved in on Farnsworth Street: water. It's backing up and flooding nearly the entire street. It's a couple feet deep in some spots.

"It's never been like this. I used to go clean the leaves away from the drains and it would go down. But the last 2-3 years, though, it wouldn't go down," said Jackson.

Jackson's lone neighbor, Tanya Appinger, has lived for three years in her grandma's house. He grandma spent 60 years in the home. None of them have ever seen it this bad.

"Kinda feel like we get neglected. It's been like this for almost a week. I haven't got any mail. I have to drive through this and I have a little car so I'm scared I may get stuck," she said.

Appinger said she's called the city every day since March 11. The city told Local 4 on Wednesday it is unacceptable and it's looking into it. As for the water, crews are clearing catch basins of wet leaves including an underground pipe which may be clogged.

The sooner it's cleared the better for these families who just want things to get back to normal.

"Days when it was nice and they wanted to come outside they couldn't play. At least, not around here,"

The city stresses it doesn't matter if your block is abandoned or in the middle of downtown: No one should have to wait six days for a response. That's why it's looking into what went wrong.


About the Author:

Jason is Local 4’s utility infielder. In addition to anchoring the morning newscast, he often reports on a variety of stories from the tragic, like the shootings at Michigan State, to the off-beat, like great gas station food.