Flooded yards and basements are just a few of the headaches lakefront homeowners in parts of Oxford are dealing with after weekend rain pushed lake levels higher.
On Paint Lake, pumps hummed Monday as residents tried to clear standing water from crawl spaces that are normally dry.
“It’s painstaking,” said Yvonne Dudley, whose crawl space was taking on water. “It’s heartbreaking to see this happen.”
Yvonne’s family has owned their home on Paint Lake since the mid-1960s.
Items stored in an outdoor shed were damaged by this water.
“Things inside of the shed are gonna be damaged,” said her husband, Larry Dudley. “I got air-condition units that are in there that go in the window of the house. They’re flooded.”
Neighbors up and down the street are facing similar problems. One family stacked sandbags in an effort to keep more water from entering their home. Another homeowner, Vicky Winkler-Sawgle, said her basement has taken on water.
“Everything is damaged, and the floor,” Winkler-Sawgle said.
Yvonne said the recent flooding isn’t the worst she’s seen. The worst was in 1975 when the home she lives in now was completely surrounded by water. She’s documented the floodings in a binder. Taking a photo of what happened and then dating the year it happened.
While she said the lake has not reached those 1975 levels again, Dudley believes the high-water events are happening more often. She attributes the change to global warming.
“To see this happen is devastating,” Yvonne said.
Local 4 reached out to Oakland County’s Public Information Officer to see if there is anything that can be done regarding this situation. They responded, letting us know our inquiry was forwarded to the county’s water resources office.
We’re waiting to hear back.
The Dudleys said they do not blame the county for the flooding but are hoping for a long-term solution.
In the meantime, homeowners around Paint Lake are watching the forecast closely, worried that additional rain this week could make a bad situation worse.