Near-record rainfall has caused massive flooding in the Detroit area that is blamed for at least one death and has made roads impassable, swamped vehicles and flooded basements, according to The Associated Press.
The heaviest rain since 1925 engulfed the area on Monday, the second-wettest day on record, according to the National Weather Service, the AP reported.
Up to 6 inches of rain fell on Monday in a four-hour period and parts of five interstate highways that run through Detroit and many interior roads remained impassable on Tuesday, said Nicole Lisabeth, a Michigan State Police spokeswoman, according to the AP.
A 30-year-old woman died Monday after suffering a seizure in her car on a flooded road in Warren, a suburb north of Detroit, Lisabeth said, the AP reported. The storm may have also claimed a 100-year-old woman, whose body was found in her basement, she said.
Warren Mayor James Fouts said the woman appears to have drowned but a cause of death was not immediately available, and Fouts did not release the woman's name, according to the AP. The woman's daughter was concerned about her welfare and went to the home to check on her when she found her in the basement.
Divers had checked about 70 vehicles left behind by motorists on flooded roadways and have found no one trapped, Lisabeth said, according to the AP. About 1,000 vehicles were abandoned on Monday in Warren Fouts said.
"This is going to go down as the great flood of 2014," Fouts said, the AP reported.
Detroit's sewer systems were overwhelmed by the rain, while area residents dealt with flooded basements and power outages, Mayor Mike Duggan said in a statement, according to the AP. The flooding forced General Motors to close a technical center in Warren and slowed operations of U.S. automakers in the region.
