Flood At Historic Detroit Building Goes Unnoticed, Reports Say
By Sara Jerome,
@sarmje
A water main broke in February and flooded four floors the David Stott Building, one of Detroit's most important landmarks.
The water main "went unnoticed for days amid bitterly cold temperatures," CBS Detroit reported, noting that 2 million gallons of water had flooded the scene.
At least four floors were flooded, according to the Detroit Free Press. "Massive hoses snaked into the 38-story Art Deco building through the front door, siphoning water."
Locals questioned why it took so long for the problem to be identified.
"The David Stott Building is dealing with massive flooding issues after multiple pipes froze and subsequently ruptured. Disaster clean-up crews swarmed the 38-story building...but nothing screams 'too late' like floodwater that's already spilling out onto the street," Detroit Curbed reported, citing anonymous sources.
A statement from the building's owner said the flooding was discovered within a single day, the Free Press reported.
"It is not yet confirmed what caused the flood, and an insurance investigation is ongoing; yet it seems it may have been the unfortunate result of a frozen pipe thanks to the recent record-cold temperatures," the statement continued, per the Free Press.
The David Stott Building is a historic site in Detroit. "A towering Art Deco structure, the David Stott Building stretches 38 stories above Capitol Park at the corner of State and Griswold streets," according to Historic Detroit. It dates back to 1928.
The incident is one of the worst accidents caused by the cold this winter, according to the Detroit Free Press.
Although most U.S. cities face water infrastructure challenges, "in Detroit, it's an epidemic," Michigan Radio reported.
“There’s still a crumbling infrastructure underneath these streets and police cars patrolling this area that are not maybe in the best of shape. So, yeah, I mean, in some ways this is kind of a revival built on sand right here,” Deadline Detroit reporter Jeff Wattrick told Michigan Radio.