Detroit area continues to struggle with flooding

The aftermath of a Monday storm that unleashed nearly five inches of rain on the Detroit area is still being felt Tuesday.

A reported 4.57 inches of rain fell within a short period of time Monday, between 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. EDT, overwhelming sewers and creating massive flooding across the area, the Detroit Free Press reports. Drivers found themselves stranded as roadways flooded, including Interstate 75, which was closed down in both directions. Many vehicles were even completely submerged.

“We are absolutely overwhelmed,” Mayor Jim Fouts of Warren, Michigan — a suburb of Detroit — said Monday. “We’ve got police, fire, sanitation, DPW, waste treatment — anybody who wants to work overtime, can. We’re working round the clock. This is probably a 200-year rain. I’ve never seen anything like this.”

Michigan Department of Transportation spokeswoman Diane Cross told motorists to remain off the roads until further notice, if it were possible.

“We’ve got a lot going on,” Cross said, according to the Free Press. “It’s not just the water on the roads. We can’t clean up the roads, we’ve got to get the cars off the roads.”