Michigan Flood Claims Life Of 100-Year-Old Woman
The record rainfall and flooding in the Metro Detroit area has claimed a second victim.
AP reports that the 100-year-old woman’s daughter found her dead in the flooded basement of her Warren, Michigan condominium when she went to check on her today. Warren Mayor James Fouts said that the woman appeared to have drowned, but the her name and official cause of death have not been released yet.
This is the second death contributed to the rains that flooded the Detroit Metro area on Monday. The first was a 30-year-old woman who was trapped in her car in high water and suffered seizures. She was pulled out of her vehicle by bystanders, who waded through chest deep water to save her, but died before emergency workers could get her to a hospital for medical treatment.
Approximately 1,000 vehicles have been abandoned in the high waters that closed streets in Detroit and surrounding areas. A Sterling Heights Assembly plant worker reported having to swim to safety after her Jeep stalled in the high waters on her way home from work Monday night. The state has warned drivers to stay off the roads in affected areas.
On Monday, the Inquistr reported that residents in the flooded area were sharing pictures on social media of the rising water, and this morning the Michigan DOT tweeted this picture of the water and mud covered roads after the flood waters began to recede.
It isn’t just the water itself that we have to deal with. A lot of debris, mud, abandoned cars, etc. #detroitflood pic.twitter.com/AxX5vHSs4c
— Michigan DOT (@MichiganDOT) August 12, 2014
Fonts referred to the storm as “the great flood of 2014,” and has declared a state of emergency in Warren. Both he and Wayne County officials are asking Michigan Governor, Rick Snyder to make a state declaration, enabling the area to receive federal aid.
“I spoke with Snyder and told him we were in need of help clearing roads of abandoned vehicles and basement flooding. Now it’s time for the state and federal government to give back what we’ve been giving. Right now, there are thousands of people in Warren who need help,” Fouts told reporters.
According to USA Today, Monday’s rain was the second heaviest in Detroit in history, coming in at less than one-quarter inch less than a 1925 storm dumped on the area. Some suburban areas received close to six inches. More than 30,000 homes and businesses lost power during the storm, and it is not clear when it will all be restored.
Road crews are in the process of cleaning water, mud, and debris from the roads, while Michigan State Troopers have worked overtime assisting stranded motorists towing abandoned cars towed to clear roads.
Image courtesy of USA Today
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