DETROIT – A combination of heat and old infrastructure caused a Downtown Detroit road to buckle and a water main to break Saturday night.
The water flooded the basement of the David Stott Building on Griswold Street, near Campus Martius, leaving dozens without power.
Authorities said it could be days before power comes back on.
It happened on Independence Day at about 10:30 p.m. A water main burst along Griswold Street between Michigan Avenue and State Street, flooding the intersection.
Inside the Stott Building, the basement filled with water as residents navigated the stairwell to leave. One resident was trapped inside the elevator and had to be rescued by the Detroit Fire Department.
With no power, no working water and no way to cool off as temperatures are expected to soar into the 90s, residents were forced to leave with nowhere to go.
Bedrock Properties, which owns the building, told residents there were no estimate on when lights could come back on.
No one wanted to go on camera, but many said they were looking for hotel rooms or to stay with family and friends -- risky options as COVID-19 cases continue to rise across the state.
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City officials said there were at least a half dozen burst water mains that burst over the holiday weekend. They blamed a lack of city funding to fix crucial infrastructure and expect problems to continue along with the mid-summer heat wave.
Bedrock released the following statement:
You can find the DTE Outage Map here or on the DTE Energy app.