The City Official's in Grosse Ponte Farms are beginning to sound like Barack Obama. It's George Bush fault. The blame game is the new buzzword for politicians. Shows no leadership ability at all. Remember them ALL when it comes time to VOTE ! ! !

We were already denied any compensation by the city for the May "100 year storm". Now it seems we've had 2 "100 year storms" in 4 months. Quit blaming mother nature and DTE..step up and fix the problem GPF!! You are losing all credibility with the people that should matter the most..your residents. Why isn't GPC, GPP, GPW, GPS, or other neighboring cities experiencing this? You are making mistakes and need to own them. Hope to hear why pumps 7 and 8 were never turned on during the storm at the meeting Thursday night!!!..I'm sure the excuses will be flowing like the water in my basement.

Today was a tough day. We lost a lot of belongings. Fortunately we keep most important treasures in plastic bins & off the floor in the basement, but lugging out 50+ garbage bags was probably more mentally and spiritually draining than any sort of muscle ache. Mostly, it was senseless waste. And for the few personal items that were lost--old photos, primarly, i just took one really good look before i said goodbye.

Grosse Pointe Farms, we have a back-up generator that kicks in as soon as the power goes out. Why don't you? Have we learned nothing from this unpredictable summer season?

It is now almost 8pm, and our basement is still wet. And I know that all of my Farms neighbors are probably too busy still cleaning their basements to bother to comment.

To Farms residents out of town.... I am speechless.

Regards,
Elizabeth Vogel
Grosse Pointe Farms

Are basements than have been waterproofed and have sump pumps even being flooded?

Nice post Elizabeth. We thought we had also learned our lesson from the last flood. We put most belongings in bins and other items up on blocks and dollies. This time, the water was so high that the bins dumped over into the flood water and it was over the block/dollies. It's like a groundhog day nightmare of flooding.

I moved to GPF 11 days ago. This is beyond not acceptable. I had not had a chance to get everything put away and I had photos, old family movies, and many other things destroyed. Yes I realize they needed to be elevated but come on. This happens in June and the residents appear to only be getting lip service. Had not expected my first interaction with the city would be filing a claim for their gross negligence. Bottom line: the city was aware there is a problem and did not fix it. Make me whole!

There was a story on Fox 2 News that said the news channel contacted DTE and their records show no loss of power or any type of power bump that would have caused the pumps to go down. Wonder who is telling the truth....GPF or DTE?

Make sure someone invites a DTE representative to your meeting on Thurday.

Sorry to hear this flooding happened again, it should not have. The management in G.P.Farms is way worse than any of you realize. I've spent a lot of time there in the past three years, digging through files, we have a huge mess on our hands!

Our taxes helped pay for the sewer separation project, but we're the ones getting flooded...again.

What does a "power bump" have to do with flooding when the Kerby station has a huge generator on board that I have heard doing automatic testing every weekend. Wasn't that device designed to keep the power going? Is this the problematic site, Kerby Rd.

John R.
GPC

So I guess every time it rains, I should be nervous because of the inability of this city to handle it's business? If people with only TWO digits in their address complained, would that get some action?

According to an article from the Grosse Pointe Times on June 23, 2011, four outfalls into the lake, which had served the inland district, were bulk-headed after the sewer separation in 1999. The remaining three outfalls for the lakeside district remain open. That is why the inland district floods and the lakeside district doesn't. Something stinks at the pumping station and at City Hall.

The lakeside district has storm and sewer separation and overflows to the lake. The inland district has neither.

I love how the city planned their meeting at the same time and same day as Back to School Night at Richard knowing how involved most parents are with their kids. Classy move City of GPF!

I heard somebody say something that, after thinking about it, might make sense. When a severe storm is occurring, if you place an extension (probably only a foot or two) into your drain (it has to seal tight) , the added height should prevent leakage. Will this actually work?

We have a heavy duty sub pump and remained dry. We purchased it after the last flood. Figured we should be prepared and responsible for our home. Also removed items off of basement floor that were valuable,

How does the sub pump work?

We had a sump pump AND a back up pump and both blew out when the water level was almost up to our porch. Burned out both motors since the water had no where to go. We were lucky in May - but this time ended up with 6 inches in the basement. And now our water heater is not working. The repair $$$ just keeps adding up!

Thanks Sara. We did try and reignite the pilot with no luck. We are not getting any spark. We are getting final confirmation tomorrow morning. We would think it was from it being too wet, but it worked all of Saturday. From what we can tell, the water damaged the inside of it from standing in water too long. Sorry to hear this is round two for you. :( just awful.

Where are you discharging the sump pump water? Drywell? Or to the street? We don't have sumps, not required as our property is above the water plain. Plus I highly doubt a sump pump would have/could handle the amount of water we had. Can't refinish the basement again....that would insane, so now I lose living space. Can't sell it...who would buy it? Frustrated and stressed out.

Just spoke with my insurance agent. If we file another claim on our homeowners, the premium will got up 600% next renewal! More than the actual coverage for sewer back-up. So thanks, GPF, looks like I get to eat the complete cost of the flood this time. (And, BTW, this holds true for the next 3 years.)

How does a sump pump take care of raw sewage that comes through floor drains? I don't understand. we had two feet of water for the second time since May. Brand new walls, carpet, toys etc all gone in a flash. The water was in the basement for less than an hour. As soon as the pumps turned back on, the water was sucked back out, leaving devastation behind. I am beyond upset. I love GPF, love having my family here, but I will not accept an "apology" on orange letter head.

I also love how the city of Grosse Pointe Farms hasnt picked up any of our garbage yet, our street of McMillan is absolutely filthy and smells beyond anything ive experienced. You are really doing well GPF...

There is a Council Meeting tonight, 9/12/11 @ 7:00 p.m. The only way these people are going to get the message, and that includes the council, is either via lawsuit, if that is possible, or in the voting booth. Honestly, I think while we're cleaing out our basements, we should also be thinking about "cleaning house" on Kerby Road.

The garbage pickup has arrived for McMillan residents. 16:16 , about time!

Gotta love the letter..a little bleach and Pinesol. What about the project a few years ago when they redid the storm sewers? Any truth to the rumor that the sewer line diameter size was reduced? Any reduction in diameter would severely limit flow and cause these kind of backups. We watched the water go down in the basement fast. Doubt a pump would have that effect...

I think we need to take a look at the city charter - all council members are "at large" at this time, meaning they probably don't live in our neighborhoods that were affected. We got very lucky this time, but last time I had 27 high power fans and 3 large dehumidifiers in my basement for 3 days. Power bill was $200 higher than normal!

Flooding
by Mary Jo Ellwood French on Friday, September 16, 2011 at 7:43pm
OK folks--just have to speak up. Sick and tired of water in your basement? ME TOO! 20 years ago this happened and it was drain back up. Called GPF and was told too bad. "It was a 100 year rain". It rained in May 2011. Drained backed up again. Just prior to that the city sewer "whatever" cleaner went down my street. Rains came - storm sewer backed up. Had my sewer drain cleaned. July-4 consecutive days of rain. 7 inches the first day. I measured. September- again, only worse.Flooded each day. We were told "it was a hundred year rain. Excuse me, Grosse Pointe Farms check your math. Now you tell us you don't know what happened! And it is our fault! Here is a thought. Millions of tax dollars spent on sewer separation up in "Heavenly Heights". 0 tax dollars to address the flooding problems down in "Yucka Flats" below Ridge. My instincts tell me that you were aware 20 years ago that we had an antiquated system and ignored it. When do the tax payers who helped pay for the sewer separation above Ridge get equal attention! OUR FAULT, GIVE ME A BREAK!
Li

Maybe we should be thinking about a recall of our officials. My co-workers and friends watched TV this morning concerning the coverage of the meeting last night and no one was impressed with our elected officials or our City Manager. They laughed when I told them the city only had a $100,000 policy. Everyone in the ballroom laughed last night when they heard this. What a joke -- on us, of course.