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Governor Whitmer Declares State of Emergency After Widespread Flooding

Photo: Steven King / Icon Sportswire via Getty

DETROIT, June 28, 2021 ~ Saturday, Governor Gretchen Whitmer declared a State of Emergency in Wayne County following power outages and displaced residents due to heavy flooding.

Our State of Emergency operations center has been activated to coordinate our response amongst the local, state, and federal agencies,” Governor Whitmer told 760 WJR’s Paul W. Smith. “By declaring the State of Emergency, impacted counties can request a significant number of resources and we wanted to make that easy, and quick.”


June 28, 2021 ~ Governor Whitmer has declared a state of emergency in Wayne County and she tells Paul W. she is also concerned about Mid-Michigan that was hit hard by serious storms over the weekend.

Whitmer said she has been in talks with members of Congress and the Federal Emergency Management Authority (FEMA). Though relief may not come before storms return to Metro Detroit.

According to Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, it took nearly five weeks to receive federal aid after widespread flooding in 2014.

The reimbursement will come later if we get the presidential support, but you should not wait for the cleaning,” said Duggan. “Nothing good happens by letting those contaminants remain in your basement.”


June 28, 2021 ~ State Senator Jon Bumstead talks with Guy Gordon about how legislature will respond to the Metro Detroit freeway flooding.

A volunteer group is organizing in Detroit to help aid residents in cleaning homes and roads in flooded areas.

We got more than two months of rain in just one day,” said Mayor Duggan. “The system was completely overwhelmed.”

Whitmer said she plans on keeping I-94 closed as more rain makes its way towards Detroit.

I mean it’s undeniable, right? We’ve had two 500 year to 1,000 year events that we’ve seen in 14 months,” Whitmer said. “You’re seeing this play out in the west with record heat. We have had record precipitation. This is a very real impact of climate change.”

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