Wayne County Fights Flooding
Environmental Officials OK plans to minimize Ecorse Creek overflows, a periodic threat to homes.
DEARBORN HEIGHTS
Wayne County is going forward with plans to design a flood control measure for the North Branch of Ecorse Creek, a waterway notorious for overflowing during intense rainstorms.
The project comes at the request of Dearborn Heights, which, along with Allen Park, has been among the hardest hit by flooding over the past 40 years. Mayor Daniel Paletko said years of development have only made the problems worse, turning the southern end of his city into a “bath tub.”
“We can’t solve our flooding problem by ourselves," Paletko said. "Our neighbors recognized this would be a regional problem, and we need a regional solution."
Kurt Heise, director of the county’s Department of Environment, said last week the first phase would cost $7 million to $10 million and begin in early 2009; the project could cost up to $239 million.
"We will work with all of the nine communities along the North Branch of the Ecorse Creek to develop a project that is cost effective and help control flooding in the future," Heise said.
The plan consists of changes involving more than 80 paths that cross the riverbed. Other construction would include building new basins and drains.
Dearborn Heights City Council woman Janet Badalow lives within a block of the creek. While her home has only had inches of flooding, others in the city have dealt with feet of water and millions of dollars of damage from storms in 2000 and 2004.
In 2005, the Federal Emergency Management Agency approved a $249,000 grant for homeowners to buy sump pumps. The following year, a federal judge ordered local governments to reimburse more than 3,000 homeowners for $25 million in property damage from the 2000 storm.
The initial phase will be paid by tax assessments on 48,000 properties near the watershed.
"I don’t want to go through (the flooding) again," Badalow said. "It’s hard to burden people with additional taxes unless it is completely necessary."