(WXYZ) — Residents say about 4 inches of water soaked their belongings after a water main leak Monday.
Watch Whitney Burney's report below
Residents in a Highland Park neighborhood near E. Golden Gate and Hawthorne say their basements began flooding around noon Monday after a crew working to replace lead service lines caused a major water main leak.
The City of Detroit's Water and Sewerage Department, which provides water services to Highland Park, confirmed the construction site is part of its ongoing effort to replace lead service lines. The department said a blocked sewer left floodwater with nowhere to go.
"As we were connecting the new lead service line to the water main we caused a very large leak from the water main. Unfortunately, the sewer that provides services to those homes was also blocked so the water had nowhere to go," Gary Brown with the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department said.
Resident Mignon Stephens says she watched the water rise in her basement, which she says she just finished furnishing about a month ago.
"So around noon, (I was) watching TV and just all of a sudden water just started coming into the basement, sewer water, massive amounts of it," Stephens said.
Stephens says the damage to her belongings was extensive.
"My basement is fully furnished. So I have a full living room set. A full dinette set, appliances. I have a full kitchen in the basement… Everything is damaged," Stephens said."The floors are completely damaged. The walls you can see it’s like this much of wetness around the baseboards and on boxes."
Stephens says her 84-year-old mother, who lives a few doors down, also had her basement flooded, though the water came in and went back out quickly. In Stephens' basement, the water sat for 4 or 5 hours.
Stephens next-door neighbor, who did not want to appear on camera, also shared video of the damage to her basement.
By Tuesday, water still covered the curbs of the neighborhood. Detroit Water and Sewerage Department crews were on scene working to make contact with residents and distribute claims forms so they can be reimbursed for damages.
When asked whether incidents like this come with the territory of large-scale infrastructure work, Brown acknowledged the risks of working with aging underground systems.
"It absolutely does. I mean, we have more than $220 million in projects going on in every area of the city of Detroit. That's a great thing that we're getting infrastructure replaced and because we're working underground with very old pipes from time to time we have unexpected things happen," Brown said.
Brown urged residents to be patient as the department works to make things right.
"Please be patient with us. If we do something that causes harm we're going to fix it. We caused the problem and we're going to fix it," Brown said.
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