Basement Flooding and Sewer Backup in Royal Oak

What the Record Says About Water in Royal Oak

Sewer and drainage

For a flooded street, Royal Oak sends a Department of Public Service worker on weekdays. The city page gives (248) 246-3300 as the number and says the cause is usually debris on the sewer grate. (City of Royal Oak, Responding to Street & Basement Flooding)

After working hours, a Royal Oak homeowner with sewage in the basement calls the Police Department non-emergency line, (248) 246-3500, and police send out a city sewer representative. (City of Royal Oak, Responding to Street & Basement Flooding)

Royal Oak is responsible for the city main sewer line. The owner is responsible for the cleanout and the service line up to and including the connection to the main. (City of Royal Oak, Responding to Street & Basement Flooding)

Royal Oak belongs to the drainage program now called the George W. Kuhn Retention Treatment Basin, which the city describes as built to cut the chance of flooded basements. (City of Royal Oak, Responding to Street & Basement Flooding)

The Kuhn Basin takes the combined sewer flow of 14 southeast Oakland County communities, Royal Oak among them, and diverts it to storage in heavy rain. (Wikipedia, George W. Kuhn Retention and Treatment Basin)

When storms exceed the basin's capacity, disinfected flow leaves through the Red Run Drain, which feeds the Clinton River at the Oakland-Macomb line. The basin tank holds 150 million gallons. (Wikipedia, George W. Kuhn Retention and Treatment Basin)

Royal Oak's Twelve Towns drain predates the modern basin. A 1958 state health commissioner called the sewage discharge to the Red Run intolerable, and the first phase was built in 1962 and 1963. (Wikipedia, George W. Kuhn Retention and Treatment Basin)

The Red Run was put into a 15-foot-wide concrete pipe in 1926 under the Vinsetta Boulevard median, and it still flows there below the bridges. (Royal Oak Historic District Study Committee, Vinsetta...)

The Vinsetta Park plan was drawn to keep homes back from a creek that regularly overflowed its banks before it was piped. (Royal Oak Historic District Study Committee, Vinsetta...)

At the Cedar Hill Drive bridge the roadbed sits only about 3 to 4 feet above the pipe that carries the Red Run. (Royal Oak Historic District Study Committee, Vinsetta...)

Wikipedia says that in 1967-68 the rest of the Red Run in Oakland County was buried in a six-foot drain pipe. (Wikipedia, Royal Oak, Michigan)

A 2013 Patch park profile says the Red Run was buried underground between the late 1920s and the mid-1960s, and that the old riverbed is still visible in Wagner Park. (Patch, Exploring Wagner Park in Royal Oak (June 29, 2013))

Royal Oak has thousands of street catch basins fitted with restricted lids, which hold water on the street to protect sewers. The city's goal is to keep capacity for a 10-year rainfall. (City of Royal Oak, Stormwater Task Force Report and...)

The city's 2018 report warns that the restricted catch basin covers plug more easily with debris, which can leave more water on the street. (City of Royal Oak, Stormwater Task Force Report and...)

Royal Oak says it spent over $43 million on its stormwater system between 1993 and 2015, counting more than $33 million in debt service for the Kuhn drain upgrades. (City of Royal Oak, Stormwater Task Force Report and...)

Flood history

In the August 2014 flood, about forty percent of Royal Oak homes had basement flooding, according to the cited account. About 2 billion gallons of wastewater went through the Kuhn system into the Red Run. (Wikipedia, George W. Kuhn Retention and Treatment Basin...)

More than five inches of rain fell in six hours on August 11, 2014. Patch reported NOAA put that at a once-in-292-years event. (Patch Royal Oak, Royal Oak Sewer Analysis Could Explain...)

Patch reported in 2014 that Royal Oak's drainage system handles only a 10-year rain storm, so in August 2014 the backed-up drains left the water nowhere to go but into basements. (Patch Royal Oak, Royal Oak Sewer Analysis Could Explain...)

Royal Oak hired an outside engineering firm after the August 2014 storm to learn why some parts of the city flooded and others stayed dry. (Patch Royal Oak, Royal Oak Sewer Analysis Could Explain...)

Residents of Vinsetta Street lost basement contents on August 11, 2014. The street sits above a former river bed and is a low spot. (WDIV ClickOnDetroit, Royal Oak residents fearful of more...)

Royal Oak told the press it sometimes lets streets flood on purpose to keep sewage from backing up into homes. (WDIV ClickOnDetroit, Royal Oak residents fearful of more...)

Two class action lawsuits followed the August 11, 2014 flood. They name Royal Oak, Clawson and Oakland County and allege the sewers were not properly maintained. These are allegations, not findings. (WDIV ClickOnDetroit, Royal Oak, Clawson sued over historic...)

The USGS runs a stream gauge named Red Run Near Royal Oak. The Red Run drains 36.5 square miles above that point. (USGS, Red Run Near Royal Oak, MI (station 04162000))

On August 27, 2021, 2 to 4 inches of rain in a short time flooded Royal Oak. Records list flooded main and side roads, including Sherman and Lafayette and Maple and Louis, and stalled cars on Bellaire. (NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, 2021 details file, event ID...)

The city's 2018 stormwater report says the sewer study recorded 5.04 inches of rain in the August 11, 2014 storm. (City of Royal Oak, Stormwater Task Force Report and...)

The city's 2018 report says weather experts put the August 2014 storm at a once in 300 to 500 years event and that it overwhelmed sewers, open streams and freeways. (City of Royal Oak, Stormwater Task Force Report and...)

After the August 11, 2014 flood, tap water turned brown near Coolidge Highway and Normandy Road. The city told residents there not to drink it while a valve was replaced. (CBS Detroit (WWJ), Royal Oak residents add brown water to...)

A week after the 2014 flood, city officials said Royal Oak garbage pickup was about five days behind, and extra crews worked a Saturday. (CBS Detroit (WWJ), Royal Oak residents add brown water to...)

A second major flood hit Royal Oak on August 28, 2020. Residents near 13 Mile Road and Main Street, whose basements flooded in 2014, were flooded again. (WDIV ClickOnDetroit, Intense rain overnight causes floods...)

For the August 28, 2020 storm, the Royal Oak Department of Public Services said it was responding to street flooding from the early morning storm. (FOX 2 Detroit, Heavy Friday rains leaves sections of Royal...)

Other Royal Oak pages

• Water damage in Royal Oak
• Fire and smoke damage in Royal Oak
• Storm damage in Royal Oak
• Basement flooding and sewer backup in Royal Oak
• Sump pump failure in Royal Oak