Detroit homeowner blames repeated flooding on city drainage system

DETROIT (WXYZ) — This week’s storm wreaked havoc on Detroit’s Fairport Street. Tiffany Pugh said her basement flooded Wednesday and Thursday.

She said it’s gotten to the point where when it rains she worries.

“It rained really, really hard again (on Thursday). So, once again we occurred another backup in the basement and this time the water just sat,” Pugh explained.

She said she had already started to cleanup the basement before Thursday’s storm came and that she had contacted the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department.

“Luckily, I did not have a whole lot of things down there due to the incident that I occurred July, July 23rd,” Pugh explained.

If Pugh’s story sounds familiar. 7 Action News’ cameras were in her basement July 23rd. A water main break caused water to backup into several homes. She said the water damaged everything in its path including her hot water tank and the furnace.

Pugh said the city replaced the hot water tank, and the furnace is still set for repair. She’s concerned both appliances are damaged again from this week’s storms.

“In my opinion, there’s an issue with the drainage system,” Pugh said.

“My message to the city is that we really to upgrade and improve the system. I would much rather them to improve the system than to pay us for damages because it’s going to be a never-ending cycle,” she said.

7 Action News did reach out to the city for comment on the repeated backup flooding issue. They responded with this:

“The Detroit Water and Sewerage Department will investigate the flooding she experienced this week. It may either be due to the intense rain events or a combination of the rain events and private plumbing. She should contact her insurance company if there was any basement damage as well as have her plumbing inspected. We will refer her to our community partners.”