Updated: Tuesday, 12:12 p.m. -- WXYZ-TV reports a number of people spent the night in their cars on the Lodge Freeway near Davison because the road was blocked by water ahead of their positions. About 40 cars appear to be involved. "It's been a horrible experience," one woman told Ronnie Dahl.
Updated: Tuesday, 11:12 a.m. -- The Macomb Daily reports that Warren Mayor James Fouts said late Monday that he may ask Gov. Rick Snyder to call in Michigan National Guard troops to assist residents in his community. “It’s overwhelming -- it’s catastrophic,” Fouts said.
Updated, Tuesday, 11:04 a.m. -- The Detroit News reports that authorities have found a stranded motorist in Warren who had died. The vehicle was stranded in about three feet of water on Van Dyke near 13 Mile Road. The News reports that Warren Mayor James Fouts said the woman apparently died of cardiac arrest.
UPDATED: Much of the rain that flooded metro Detroit Monday late afternoon and evening remains Tuesday morning, making driving impossible for commuters on many local freeways.
According to the Michigan Department of Transportation, one of the hardest-hit areas is the busy I-696-I-75 interchange in Oakland County, which remains impassable.
"I cannot tell you when we are going to open that interchange," MDOT spokeswoman Diane Cross told WDIV-TV Tuesday morning. She added drivers should completely avoid I-696 -- the Reuther Freeway -- in Oakland and Macomb counties.
Also closed: Parts of the Lodge Freeway -- M 10 -- in Detroit; parts of I-94 in Detroit and Macomb County and the Southfield Freeway at Grand River in Detroit. I-75 is closed at Davison.
More rain is forecast for Tuesday afternoon.
The Detroit News reports MDOT crews worked overnight to check freeway pump stations, but it wasn’t immediately clear how long it would take for the waters to recede, Cross said. “The big unknown variable is going to be the water and where it’s going to drain … because everything is full of water already.”
As much as 6 inches of rain drenched the region Monday — most falling in just a few hours, according to the National Weather Service.
Detroit Metro Airport in Romulus set a record with 4.57 inches of rain, more than doubling the previous high-water mark, 2.06, notched in 1964.
From Macomb County to Downriver, road crews raced to tend to stuck motorists, stunned residents dealt with sewage-filled basements and Michigan State Police warned drivers to stay off the roads.
“This is not a typical day,” Susan Hiltz, public affairs director at AAA Michigan, told the News.
AAA fielded 513 service calls between 7 and 7:30 p.m. alone, compared to 74 in the same time frame a week earlier.
Meteorologist Paul Gross writes on WDIV's website: "I have lived my entire life and worked my entire career here, and I have never seen as widespread a flooding event."
