DETROIT (AP) - A suburban Detroit community plans to seek an emergency declaration due to flooding that followed heavy rainfall.
Dearborn Heights Mayor Dan Paletko said his office asked the state police Wednesday to consider a declaration and will do a financial assessment of any damage before submitting an official request to the state.
“We’re working on that right now,” Paletko said. “We’ve gone through this before.”
Dearborn Heights is just west of Detroit. Flooding primarily is located in an area referred to as South Dearborn Heights.
“We experienced 3 inches (7.62 centimeters) of rain last night,” Dearborn Heights Fire Chief Dave Brogan told WDIV-TV . “We’ve had several calls of people trapped in their homes who have medical problems or physical limitations that we’re helping … and we’ve had a lot of homes filling up with smoke from water flooding up to their electrical outlets.”
Overnight rain across the Detroit area lefts scores of basements flooded and made some local streets impassable. Some vehicles had to be towed from the water.
The state Department of Transportation said flooding closed the Southfield Freeway in both directions at Outer Drive on Detroit’s west side and the northbound Lodge Freeway in downtown Detroit. Flooding was also reported along Interstate 75 in downtown Detroit.
The National Weather Service issued a flood advisory Wednesday for some communities along the Lake Erie shoreline in southeastern Michigan. The advisory said that southwesterly wind gusts would lead to elevated water levels in Monroe County.
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