Flood Forum For Livonia Residents
LIVONIA (WWJ) - Hundreds of angry residents are expected to turn out to a forum in Livonia for the hundreds of homes and businesses that suffered flooding last week.
The city of Livonia is holding the forum Thursday night at the Livonia City Hall auditorium. Mayor Jack Kirksey says the purpose of the forum is to dispel rumors that there was a problem with the sewer system. "People are saying that the basements flooded because the valves were closed off in the sewers or that we weren't bypassing and pumping. And we're not going to try to argue with them whether the rumor's true or not, we're just going to relate the facts that we were pumping and all the other stuff," says Kirksey.
The mayor says it wasn't the sewer system but the vast amount of rain that fell onto already saturated ground that's to blame for the vast number of flooding complaints. "It was not the sewer system not being capable of handling that amount of rain because it wasn't in good repair, but just because that amount of rain supersaturates just about any kind of sewer set-up, at least in southeast Michigan," says Kirksey.
Kirksey says there have been more complaints than he's seen in his twelve years on the job combined. He says all the affected residents have been given complaint forms to fill out and all will be investigated. And as for those where its found that there was indeed a sewer problem, they will be compensated. "Some claims will be honored, some won't depending on whether or not the sewer system was in good repair that their home fed into," he says. However, Kirksey believes 99-percent of the complaints can probably be blamed on the rain.
The informational forum takes place at 7:30pm Thursday at the Livonia City Hall auditorium.
