The torrential rain and flooding that struck parts of Metro Detroit on June twenty-sixth took a “devastating” toll on some households. That’s especially true in some Detroit communities, where many people lack insurance and there are a large number of low-income, senior, or disabled residents.
That has many leaders in those neighborhoods calling for more assistance from all levels of government. In the meantime, community groups are doing what they can to help people recover.
Southwest Detroit Community CARE volunteers clean up a flooded basement.
Credit Angela Gallegos
Donna Givens Davidson, CEO of Detroit’s East Side Community Network, called the flooding “traumatic” for some community members, especially those who have been through multiple flooding events. She said many people face staggering losses.
“Cancer Alley” in L.A., in a mostly African American area, is rife with refineries, plastic plants and chemical facilities. Photo: Gines A. Sanchez
“To be poor means that you are living in environments that you don’t control,” said Donna Givens Davidson, president and CEO of Eastside Community Network in Detroit, and a new faculty member in the Earth Institute’s Master of Science in Sustainability Management program. “And it means that people who have more power and money have a way of using those environments for dumping, using those environments for waste. And then, because you don’t have political capital, you don’t even have the means to say, ‘Let’s create buffers and protect ourselves.’”