‘Venice of Detroit’: climate costs imperil historic neighborhood

Diverse neighborhood of Jefferson Chalmers faces climate gentrification' as home prices and flood defense costs rise

• This story is co-published with Planet Detroit

In 2019, Blake Grannum experienced a catastrophic flood in her home in Detroit's Jefferson Chalmers neighborhood. Water overtopped nearby canals and rushed into her basement, destroying a washer and dryer and forcing her and her mother to go to the laundromat during the pandemic.

It was one of several floods the neighborhood experienced in recent years; heavy rains overwhelmed sewer systems and flooded basements five times between 2011 and 2021. During that last major flood on 21 July 2022, 6in of rain fell on the region, inundating freeways, stranding hundreds of people in vehicles, and filling basements with sewage backup.