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Detroit Officials Drafting Plan For $60 Million Flood Recovery Grant

(CBS DETROIT) - Donna Ramsey-Cron says every time it rains, she's worried.

"And just the thought of the rain coming up in my basement again, I can't handle, you know I can't. I don't know," Ramsey-Cron said.

"I don't want to deal with it anymore."

The Cron family has been calling Lakewood near Jefferson home for 22 years, but last June their cozy bungalow was damaged by floods.

"Devastating because I had three-and-a-half feet of water in my basement," said Ramsey-Cron.

"My washer floated. My freezer was on its side and floating."

The City of Detroit is now drafting plans to solve infrastructure issues in the Jefferson-Chalmers neighborhood on Detroit's lower east side.

A major floodplain in the city.

"We know that we have a Basement Back-Up Protection Plan where dollars do go directly to homeowners to put in back-flow valves and sump pumps and we'd like to expand it," said DWSD Director Gary Brown.

The $60 million Flood Disaster Recovery Grant was awarded by HUD.

The city plans to use part of the funds to implement permanent measures to protect residents from rising water levels along the Detroit River.

"The river overflows the seawalls and its flooding basements and causing a lot of damage and so we want to work with the Army Corp of Engineering to possibly put in a dam," Brown said.

DWSD officials say it could take three months to a year before the plan is approved to fully understand the guidelines and regulations associated with the grant.

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