The Longest Drive Home – Detroit Flood 2014

I told my students we would finish the lecture we were working on and be on our way shortly after. But being on the second floor of the building didn’t show us everything we would be getting into. Little did we know that all of the major highways were closed even at this point, some with several feet of water in the underpasses. We had no idea that all of the exits from our office park were completely flooded and we wouldn’t be leaving for a while. We also, had no idea how long of a drive home that would be.

For those unaware, we had rain predicted yesterday as well as today. And did it ever rain! To the point that it rushed into public buses as they drove down streets, completely covered the top of box trucks on the highways, flooded basements and yards, as well as created mud-slides.

My students left and in a row tried to head through a back area of the office park. All made it through, except one – who’s van got stuck. They stayed together and I found them all still waiting for her to get assistance about an hour later. We stayed in contact via text and made sure we all got home.

Even in Michigan, after that horrible winter we had, I saw things I’ve never seen before. Roads that were now rivers, with hundreds of cars floating in them. People walking around barefoot through different suburbs assisting others. Roads completely washed out, accidents everywhere, and even people driving with their hoods open to try to dry their drenched engines out. I’m not sure if you can see it in the picture there – but even driving 3 miles an hour, that was shocking for me.

My drive home last night took over three and a half hours. It took me on almost every mile road between 10 and 19 mile, some a few times. You would drive a bit and be confronted with a river. I drove over the highway and honestly didn’t recognize that it was a road at all. We drove on the wrong side of the road with police telling us to turn around, saw mud slides in the metro area and that isn’t even the worst of what happened.

Besides a little bit of shell shock, I found myself driving with white knuckles this afternoon, our area was relatively unharmed. Our neighborhood had a few fallen branches and a couple flooded back yards (that happens with every rain). And as ironic as that is, since we’re so close to the water – I’m thankful we were relatively unscathed by the storm.

Other areas weren’t so lucky. I’m watching the news updates and seeing the highway with 10+ feet of water under a bridge, and knowing there are cars trapped down there. Houses are flooded, friends have lost thousands of dollars in items. That’s not the worst still. So far there have been two deaths reported, and I fear we will hear of more soon.

It’s not going to be a quick repair in the area, and who knows how long until all of the highway systems are back up to where they need to be. Be safe, and stay dry. I’m thankful we’re almost done with the rain here, as much as my plants are loving it. I just hope that the worst is over already.

Want to see some pictures of the aftermath? Check out some pictures by photographer Joe Gall.