The photo above was my lower level studio prior to 2:00AM June 26.

It rained heavily that night and, since I have no clue what sleep means, I went downstairs to check as I’d seen a small leak behind the furnace during a heavy rainstorm a week earlier.

Bear in mind I had a $20,000 basement drain footer project a few years ago followed by $2,000 for a collapsed drain last month.

When I got to the top of the stairs my flashlight revealed what was my share of a neighborhood catastrophe.

The massive rainstorm moving through southeastern Michigan had overloaded the sewer capacity and many homes on my block as well as throughout the city were flooded with raw sewage, in my case about 2 feet deep.

The ensuing struggle to find crews to address the aftermath and the discovery that many people’s insurance did not cover the damage was epic. Even those who did have coverage found it was a small fraction of the cost.

The composites below document the recovery effort in my studio… still to come, drywall repair and painting, replacement floor covering and moving forward after the loss of materials and studio income.

Kudos to my neighborhood, College Heights in Ypsilanti, as well as other adjacent neighborhoods for the support offered by our neighbors during this reminder that nature and the environment is a force not to be ignored!

Clicking on the composites below will enlarge them full size.