ROSEVILLE, Mich. – The mayor of Roseville has declared an emergency after flash floods over the weekend left basements flooded and caused significant damage to the City Hall.
Saturday's rain came down so fast it overwhelmed the system and left the water with no place to go. On Monday, residents had to clean out flooded basements, as did officials at City Hall.
Megan Huddleston and her mother, Stacy Moceri, live on Blumfield Street in Roseville, one of the two hardest-hit by flooding over the weekend.
"The smell could kill a deal person," Huddleson said.
"It smelled so bad that we could not go in the house," Moceri said.
The inches of floodwater and sewage being cleaned up would make even the strongest person gag.
"We're actually staying at my friend's house because it's so bad and, you know, the cats have tracked up the sewage with their paws," Huddleson said. "It's not sanitary."
The rain came down so far during the storm, pumps and sewers couldn't keep up.
"You can see the water line on the building from here," Huddleson said.
Even the basement at Roseville City Hall was underwater.
"We've lost several, probably 8,000 envelopes there," a city worker said. "These bottom drawers have some financial records. We haven't quite gotten to all this yet."
Upstairs, the mayor, manager and others decided to declare a state of emergency, hoping the state will approve emergency funds for residents.
"If there is a possiblility that they may be able to recover some of the damage through this funding that we're seeking, we'll be able to do that for them," Mayor Robert Taylor said.
"I'm sitting here trying to make decisions," Moceri said. "He's asking me, 'What should we throw away? What should we keep?' I don't know. So now all my keepsakes -- my daughter's pictures when she was born, they're gone. So yeah, it's sad."
All the voting machines were in the basement of Roseville City Hall. Workers had to take the pedestals outside, turn them upside down to drain the water and leave them outside to drive.
No timeline for help is set in stone, officials said. It could be weeks or months before they get an answer about the emergency funding.