DETROIT – Michigan State Police are advising drivers to avoid metro Detroit freeways due to extreme flooding.
The state police issued the following advisory Monday evening:
"Please advise your viewers, listeners or readers to avoid non essential use of the Metro Detroit Freeway system. All freeways in the Metro area are currently experiencing flooding at different points. Also remind everyone to not drive through standing water as it is hard to determine how deep the water is. MDOT will continue to update closings on its twitter page and MI Drive."
The National Weather Service says 4.25 inches of rain fell Monday in the Detroit suburb of Taylor. It says 4 inches fell in Livonia and 3.75 inches in Dearborn. The unofficial rainfall total (as of 8:45 p.m. Monday) was 4.57 inches recorded at Detroit Metro Airport by the automated weather observing equipment there.
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Flooding blocked Interstate 75 at several points Monday evening, as well as sections of I-94 and I-696.
It's not clear when freeways will be clear again. According to the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT), the freeways may remain shut down through Tuesday morning if the water does not recede in time.
"We've had so much rain and all of the water -- a great deal of it -- seems to be on our freeways and because of the rain we've had there is nowhere for this water to go. We don't have anywhere to drain the water to. Our pump stations have been overloaded on the freeways," said Diane Cross, MDOT spokeswoman.
Unfortunately, the problem may stick around for the morning commute.
"Just assume maybe tomorrow morning you need to get up extra early, maybe plan an alternate route," said Cross.