The city of Detroit spent Tuesday dealing with dozens of water main breaks that officials said were caused by aging infrastructure and frigid temperatures. – The city of Detroit spent Tuesday dealing with dozens of water main breaks that officials said were caused by aging infrastructure and frigid temperatures.
One of the worst areas was in the Denby neighborhood near Laing Street and Britain, where a water main break left the roadway coated in ice, resulting in some vehicles being towed and sending water into basements. It has since been fixed.
“I ain’t even came down here yet,” said resident Imani Scott as she walked through her flooded basement. “This is all my clothes I was doing laundry. The rest of that is trash I was waiting on bunk day to take that out. But these are all my kids’ clothes, they’re school clothes, my clothes.”
Scott said she already struggled with drainage issues, and the break made a bad situation worse. Her next-door neighbor, Regina Rice, said she also had water in her basement, but it wasn’t that much.
Rice said she first noticed a small amount of water in front of her driveway on Monday morning.
“Yesterday I did an errand around 11, and it wasn’t this bad; there was very little water at the approach of my driveway,” Rice said. “I did my errand, came back home, but later that day it got progressively worse.”
During a news conference on Tuesday, city officials said they were dealing with about 51 active water main breaks across the city. They also mentioned three cars were towed from the break on Laing and Britain.
Tim, a longtime resident, said this is not the first time he has seen a water main fail in the area.
“This actually happened about three or four times in the 20 years I’ve been here, and every summer this block floods,” he said.
He added that he hopes the city will address what he sees as the underlying cause of the recurring problems.
City officials said nine crews were dispatched Tuesday to repair water main breaks, and they are expected to increase that number to 11 crews on Wednesday. They emphasized that fixing the breaks is a priority.
Residents who see a possible water main break in their neighborhood are urged to report it through the Improve Detroit app.