GROSSE POINTE PARK, Mich. – About 200 basements in Grosse Pointe Park were flooded yesterday after the area got about five inches of rain.
The city said all of the drains around town come to their sanitary system. Their system was at full capacity and the water at the main pumping station was approaching the transformers which would have shut down service for a few weeks. Instead, the city decided to shut down the pumping station for about three hours, resulting in the flooding.
Rick Jacob is one of the residents who had a basement flooded, and was at work at the time.
"We were alerted by some of our neighbors who were home at the time and we got home and the damage was done," he said.
He has been cleaning up the mess ever since along with his neighbors who had to throw away a lot of furniture and belongings.
Jacob said his insurance will cover $5,000, but fixing the damage to his basement will cost more than that amount.
The city manager said most of the homeowners have flood insurance.