Metro Detroit freeways flood during Tuesday storms

Darcie Moran, Detroit Free Press
·2 min read
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Flooding closed multiple freeways across metro Detroit on Tuesday evening as a storm crashed into the region.

A flood advisory was in place until 11 p.m. in northeast Wayne County, and part of Macomb and Oakland counties, said Brian Cromwell, a National Weather Service meteorologist out of White Lake.

As of 9:45 p.m., the Michigan Department of Transportation was reporting flooding closing lanes including:

  • The center lane, right lane and right shoulder of southbound M-10 after 7 Mile Road.

  • The freeway ramp on westbound I-96 Express at M-39.

  • All lanes of westbound I-94 at 8 Mile Road (the freeway was closed at Vernier Road due to flooding after Vernier at Lochmoor Street).

  • All lanes of eastbound I-94 at Gratiot Avenue.

  • All lanes but the right lane of I-94 after Outer Drive.

  • All lanes of eastbound I-94 after Allard Avenue.

  • The freeway ramp from eastbound M-8 to southbound I-75.

Flooding is shown on the John C. Lodge Freeway, M-10, at Puritan Avenue in Detroit on the evening of July 23, 2024.
Flooding is shown on the John C. Lodge Freeway, M-10, at Puritan Avenue in Detroit on the evening of July 23, 2024.

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Between one and three inches of rain fell in the afternoon and additional rainfall of one to two inches was expected Tuesday night, causing or worsening flooding, according to the National Weather Service.

Cromwell said things were sticking around a bit later than believed, but the hope was that the storms would move out about 11 p.m. or after.

Whether the flooding on the roads would clear as quickly, he couldn’t immediately say. It depends on matters like infrastructure and the surface where the water collects.

“Soil can absorb the water much better than concrete,” he said.

Flooding was expected to impact Warren, Troy, Southfield, St. Clair Shores, Mount Clemens, Grosse Pointe, Detroit, Sterling Heights, Dearborn, Royal Oak, Birmingham, Clinton, Dearborn Heights, Roseville, Eastpointe, Madison Heights, Oak Park and Hamtramck, according to the initial flood advisory.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Metro Detroit freeways flood during Tuesday storms