Overview

• In August 2023, the West Willow neighborhood in Ypsilanti Township experienced a devastating flood that overwhelmed streets, homes, and infrastructure. More than 1,000 homes were affected, and over 3,000 residents dealt with water intrusion and sewer backups. Many homeowners faced costly repairs, and some were forced to temporarily relocate due to unsafe living conditions.

• Experts believe the August 2023 storm was an extreme weather event, possibly qualifying as a 500-year flood. Historically, such floods had a 0.2% chance of occurring in any given year, but the increasing frequency of extreme weather suggests these classifications may need reevaluation. Climate change is playing a significant role, as Michigan has seen rising temperatures and more intense rainstorms, leading to greater flooding risks.

• West Willow is a historically diverse community, with a significant Black population, alongside White, Hispanic, and Asian residents. Like many minority-majority neighborhoods, it has faced systemic underinvestment in infrastructure, which worsened the impact of the flood. 

• Following the disaster, the township petitioned the Washtenaw County Water Resources Commissioner to launch a study to investigate the causes of flooding and seek to find potential management solutions. WCWRC reached out to OHM Advisors to complete this study that started in February of 2024. Environmental engineers, including Brandon Ellefson of OHM Advisors, conducted a study of the Willow Run neighborhood and the Beyer Relief District. Their findings pointed to the urgent need for expanded stormwater storage, additional retention basins, and significant drainage system upgrades. Many existing storm drains were not designed to handle the extreme water volumes recent storms have produced, putting the neighborhood at continued risk. He points out the 2023 flood was exceptional, but there have been recurring floods in the last 5 years that are considered “100-year flood” events, and these have also caused damage to property and backups.

• Funding for these improvements remains a significant challenge. FEMA has allocated billions for climate adaptation projects, and Michigan’s Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) offers grants for flood prevention and water management initiatives. Local governments may also seek partnerships with environmental organizations and nonprofits to help secure additional funding and technical assistance.

• For West Willow residents, the flooding crisis is more than just an infrastructure problem—it is a matter of safety, economic stability, and environmental justice. Many community members have expressed frustration with repeated flooding and the slow pace of action. While officials and engineers stress the importance of long-term solutions, residents are demanding immediate relief to prevent future disasters. Addressing these challenges through an environmental justice lens is critical to ensuring that all residents, regardless of race or economic background, receive equitable protection and support.

Transcription

David Fair: This is 89 one WEMU, and we have a lot of questions about ongoing flooding issues in Ypsilanti Township’s West Willow Neighborhood. I’m David Fair, and welcome to this week’s edition of Issues of the Environment. Back in 2023, we had what was deemed a 500-year storm, and there have been a number of 100-year storms in recent years as well. Now, these severe weather events continue to increase with climate change, and the West Willow neighborhood has been hit particularly hard. The Washtenaw County Water Resources Commissioner’s Office hired Livonia-based OHM advisors to look into what needs to be done. Our guest today is Brandon Ellefson, and he is project manager in the Environmental Water Resources Group at OHM Advisors. And we truly appreciate the time today!

Brandon Ellefson: Thank you so much for having me!

David Fair: Well, after the storm that I just mentioned in the West Willow neighborhood and in Washtenaw County, the Resource Commissioner’s office reached out to your firm, and you began a study in February of 2024. I was curious as to whether geography was a part of that study and whether the geography of the West Willow neighborhood actually lends itself to flooding events.

Brandon Ellefson: Yeah, that’s a great question. Typically, water does find its way downhill, unfortunately.

David Fair: Yeah, it does.

Brandon Ellefson: It’s really good at that. West Willow Neighborhood is unfortunately in a kind of a low spot where it’s trapped between a highway and an overpass, and water find its way to this quarter where it just doesn’t have a natural outlet. The stormwater infrastructure dates back to like the 1940s and ’50s, and there really is limitation on how much water can get out based on how much can go in through the infrastructure. So, when a storm of this magnitude hits a neighborhood like this, there’s really not much that can be done unless the infrastructure is upgraded.

David Fair: And so, it’s not just the age of the infrastructure, it’s also the size of the infrastructure when it was put in all those years ago.

Brandon Ellefson: That’s true. Yeah, back in the ’40s and ’50s when this neighborhood was constructed, the stormwater standards were significantly different than they are nowadays in Washtenaw County. We tend to design neighborhoods these days to be able to convey a 10-year storm event and store up to a 100-year storm event. This neighborhood did not have those level standards. I think it was common practice back then to try to just manage the 10-year storm event and not try to store anything in excess of that. So, when we have a storm magnitude of a 100 or 500-year event come through, there’s obviously going to be significant widespread impact

David Fair: I’m wondering. Even with the shortcomings of that infrastructure, that aging infrastructure, could some of the damage been mitigated if we had just had better maintenance?

Brandon Ellefson: That is a great question. In West Willow, in particular, there is a very unique ownership of the asset that kind of goes on in that area. Where Washtenaw County typically takes ownership of the drains and a lot of the stormwater infrastructure in the county, parts of the southern half of West Willow actually is owned by the Road Commission. Their budget isn’t structured in such a way that they are often keeping up with the regular stormwater maintenance. And so, in this case, there had been a little bit of, I’d say, neglect in terms of the ongoing maintenance in portions of the West Willow neighborhood, which was also contributing to the flooding.

David Fair: This is 89 one WEMU’s Issues of the Environment. We’re talking with Brandon Ellefson. He’s project manager in the Environmental Water Resources Group at OHM Advisors, which has been studying solutions to flooding in the West Willow neighborhood in Ypsilanti Township. Obviously, solutions are going to include money, and we’ll talk about that shortly. But I do want to explore the issue of environmental justice and equity. West Willow is a diverse neighborhood. It does have a significant Black population. Income levels are below many portions of Washtenaw County. Like other neighborhoods, those factors have led to a systemic underinvestment in infrastructure. As you looked at all of the factors contributing to the issues in West Willow, did you find that type of inequity?

Brandon Ellefson: Well, that’s true. I mean, this is kind of a larger issue, like you said, on the equity of the environmental issues. Things like property values tend to be lower in areas where there are ongoing systemic issues with the infrastructure and maintenance. And so, those are the homes that are generally affordable to people who may be in an underprivileged or disadvantaged situation. And unfortunately, the way that that tends to progress over time is it just perpetuates the issues of areas that are underserved and undermaintained with their structures.

David Fair: The federal government, the state government, and the county government have all become more focused on infrastructure and environmental justice. And it all has an eye towards climate adaptation and resilience. A lot of money was put out for infrastructure projects through and beyond the periods of the COVID-19 pandemic. What kind of money do you estimate will be needed in West Willow to prevent another such occurrence of huge flood and water damage?

Brandon Ellefson: That’s a great question–so infrastructure that would need to be invested in for this neighborhood to kind of meet the level of service criteria that we’re aiming for. And I’ll say, within this study, we had to select a level of service that we would deem acceptable to try to bring the infrastructure up to that level of standard. We were targeting what would be a modern standard in Washtenaw County, which is maintaining storage for the 100-year storm event. We identified certain stormwater surface storage locations that we could potentially detain water to help meet that level of service. But to do that, you’re talking about an investment that’s on the order of about $10 million or more. So, those numbers are obviously variable. It’s very preliminary engineering at this point, but it’s a significant investment.

David Fair: As part of what your research for the Washtenaw County Water Resources Commissioner’s Office and Ypsilanti Township, do you look at where that kind of resource–financial resource–might be found?

Brandon Ellefson: We do. And those are the kind of projects that are very difficult to try to find funding within the local government, because their fees aren’t really structured in a way that kind of generates revenue specifically to deal with stormwater issues. A lot of times you have rates that help pay for your water bill…well, pay for your water infrastructure rates to pay for your sewage. But stormwater, there is really very few communities in the state of Michigan that have stormwater-based rates to try to deal with specific stormwater issues, which this was. So oftentimes, we’re looking for funding that will be outside of the local government towards grants or external funders to try to help fund this type of infrastructure improvement.

David Fair: So, what is going to have to happen next in order to get us to a more modern era and be able to accommodate these 100-year storm events? What is the first step in that process?

Brandon Ellefson: Well, that’s a great question. I mean, West Willow and these communities aside, this is not just a localized issue per se. This is something that we see all over southeast Michigan. We’ve seen an increasing trends in the frequency and severity of storms. I know that, in southeast Michigan alone, we’ve seen a number of 100-year excess events that have happened in the last ten years. And so, really, it’s going to take a proactive mindset to consider what are the future needs of our community? How are we going to fund these projects going forward if we’re going to be meeting the level of disasters that were that need to be addressed?

David Fair: So, are we potentially something like a generation away from getting to that place?

Brandon Ellefson: Well, that’s a great question. I guess i can’t say. It would depend on how proactive the communities want to be about it. I know that there are a lot of communities that are being very proactive about it. They’re saying that we are looking now to fund projects that look beyond the100-year storm event and try to implement product in the next ten years it would keep us safe for the next generation. But you need to have funding opportunities. You need to have a mindset alive to try to help deliver that for a community.

David Fair: Once again, this is Issues of the Environment on WEMU, and we’re talking with Brandon Ellefson from OHM Advisors, which is studying the causes of and potential solutions to flooding in West Willow in Ypsilanti Township. So, right now, we have a entire neighborhood that is looking to the future for some solutions. What can homeowners, landlords and property managers do right now to better protect themselves while this process unfolds?

Brandon Ellefson: That’s a great question, yeah. Obviously, the first thing is to contact your insurance provider. Look at what your insurance actually covers. And this is a particularly challenging thing for maybe some underprivileged communities, but we need to be proactive in looking at if we know that there’s a recurring and ongoing flooding issue, make sure that insurance or you can identify different insurance providers that might cover the damage being done.

David Fair: And you need to know the difference between things like flooding and seepage because one comes from above, one comes from below, and if you’re not insured for the right thing, you may not be covered at all.

Brandon Ellefson: Correct! They have two different types of flooding, and you can have things like basement backup for the sanitary sewer system if excess can’t handle it, or like the flooding that you’ve said. From the surface, it would seep into the side. They are two different things, unfortunately. But, yeah, besides that, I mean looking at the simple thing on your property when you’re dealing with stormwater issues. If you have stormwater roof gutters that go into the ground, those are often connected to the footing drain of your home which then goes directly to the sanitary sewer system. Excess water in the sanitary sewer system can cause backups into homes. That’s an issue that can be dealt with by disconnecting your gutter drains and having it drain out to the surface instead of to the underground. Outside of that, doing things like proper grading around your land to make sure that your home–your land–is slumped away from your house to keep water running away from the edge of your foundation is something that also helps with that seepage issue.

David Fair: We’re going to need to look at large-scale water containments, as well as small things like personal rain gardens.

Brandon Ellefson: Yeah! Personal rain gardens and rain barrels are a great thing that helps because that’s one of those things that retains that impervious roof runoff. If you can put that, what we call, a low time of concentration flow, that roof runoff gets to the stormwater grates or gets off the roof very quickly. If you can hold that back in a rain garden or a storm barrel, it significantly reduces the burden on the stormwater system if you can do that at enough locations.

David Fair: Hey, I’d like to thank you for the time and sharing the information today, Brandon! I’m truly grateful!

Brandon Ellefson: Thank you so much! I appreciate you having me on!

David Fair: That is Brandon Ellefson, Project Manager in the Environmental Water Resources Group at OHM Advisors. It’s been studying solutions to flooding in Ypsilanti Township’s West Willow Neighborhood, as well as communities throughout Southeast Michigan. For more information, stop by our website at wemu.org. Issues of the Environment is produced in partnership with the Office of the Washtenaw County Water Resources Commissioner, and we bring it to you every Wednesday. I’m David Fair, and this is your community NPR station, 89 one WEMU FM Ypsilanti. Celebrating 60 years of broadcasting from the campus of Eastern Michigan University!

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