Dearborn resident Linda Ratcliffe (left) speaks during a Sept. 5 Community Development Block Grant disaster recovery action plan public hearing, as Christopher Raschke, disaster recovery grant manager, and Regina Sistrunk, Community Development coordinator, listen.
By SUE SUCHYTA
Times-Herald Newspapers
DEARBORN – At a public hearing Sept. 5 designed to generate comments concerning Community Development Block Grant disaster recovery action plans, residents shared their emotional stories and fears about future basement floodings.
Ana Mastroianni, who lives on Middlesex, spoke about all the money she has spent recovering from multiple basement flooding.
She felt that rain gardens and tree plantings would not have an impact on preventing future basement flooding.
Linda Ratcliffe, who lives on Barclay Court, spoke about her flood losses and the cost to repair the damage.
“We lost everything in 2014 and it took me two or three years before we put anything in that basement again, and in 2021 we lost everything,” she said. “Every time it rains, I get scared, and I’ve gone through retirement funds just to get a new furnace.”
Ratcliffe said that even though she had items raised up after the first flood, the second flood brought even deeper floodwater in her basement.
“I don’t have money to replace everything,” she said. “I want to know if my house is going to be of less value now, because I can’t afford to replace anything in the basement.”
Rafcliffe said she has had rat feces and bugs for years in her basement because of the flooding.
“Every time it rains, I shake,” she said. “I want to move out of Dearborn and find a place where I feel safe.”
Christopher Raschke (back center left), disaster recovery grant manager and Regina Sistrunk (back center right), Community Development coordinator, speak at a Sept. 5 Community Development Block Grant disaster recovery action plan public hearing, as attendees listen.
Chairing the meeting were Regina Sistrunk, community development coordinator with the city’s Economic and Community Development Department, and Christopher Raschke, disaster recovery grant manager, who read a summary to attendees detailing the city of Dearborn’s plans for the $27 million it received from the Department of Housing and Urban Development for disaster recovery efforts.
The CDBG – Disaster Recovery program is designed to help cities and states recover from presidentially declared disaster area, especially in low-income areas. Local governments must submit action plans to receive CDBG-DR funding, with the action plan describing the needs, strategies and proposed uses.
Dearborn’s initial action plan, as approved by HUD in May, includes infrastructure projects to capture more stormwater runoff, to create rain garden flood mitigation areas and to plant more trees to absorb rainwater that would otherwise enter the stormwater system.
One of the major projects that would impact flood mitigation is the Colson Palmer stormwater line, a 12-foot diameter stormwater line that funnels rainwater from northeast Dearborn into the Rouge River.
Due to rising Great Lake levels due to climate change, the outlet pipe is often underwater, so when stormwater overwhelms the system, excess water is forced up through basement drains into houses.
The first phase proposal would build a concrete headwall, gates and dewatering pumps at the outlet, which is the end of the storm line, where it dumps storm water into the Rouge River. The headwall would keep river water out of the storm drain during dry weather. Gating would keep debris out of the system during extreme and high river level conditions. $3.3 million is budgeted for the first phase of the project.
The second phase would clear and remove sediment, debris and standing water from the 12-foot stormwater line to increase its capacity during heavy rain and flooding events. $14.7 million has been budgeted for the second phase.
The entire set of plans are on the city’s website, at cityofdearborn.org/disaster-recovery. Hard copies are available for perusal at the Dearborn Administrative Center and at the city’s libraries.