Historia de éxito: Preservar el legado y a la comunidad en el entorno de inundaciones en Detroit
Oct 13, 2023
Con sede en Detroit, Michigan, la iglesia St. Stephens AME Church es la piedra angular de la comunidad afroamericana en el área. Fue aquí que los trabajadores afroamericanos trabajaron para Ford Motors y fueron capaces de adquirir sus casas y construir sus vidas desde la década de 1920; cerrando la brecha racial entre ricos y pobres para establecer la seguridad financiera y crear una herencia para el futuro. El reverendo Darryl R. Williams explica cómo una lluvia torrencial afectó a la iglesia y a la comunidad, así como información útil para salvaguardar sus bienes frente a la siguiente inundación utilizando el seguro de inundación o maneras alternativas para mitigar riesgos y pérdidas. Visite Floodsmart.gov/es para aprender más.
You got years and years of things that you built
and it could be taken away from you in one bad rain.
You never know when that could happen.
St. Stephen was established in 1918,
so it's 105 years of age.
For a lot of African American youth back in the day,
this was really the only option.
A lot of legacy here at St. Stephen,
but this area has had problems with flooding for a long time.
And it was a heavy rain two days before,
torrential rain, in fact.
And I had this queasy feeling in my stomach
that, okay, we probably got a problem at the church.
The system was overworked, and because of that,
it made it back up and flood in people's homes.
At the same time, the street was flooded also.
If the water has no place to go,
it's probably going to go to the nearest building.
And it was a shock.
There's just water all over the place.
It's just, I don't like to relive it
because that was a bad period of time in my life.
Where with St. Stephen, if there was no insurance at all,
we'd be in bad shape.
And everybody didn't have flood insurance,
but it's still small things you can do.
We can start by taking a survey,
make sure that your sub pump is working,
window wells are covered if you have window wells.
Diverting water away from their homes,
no longer having their downspouts connected to the main drain.
We can't dictate how much rain we get or when it will rain,
but we can potentially create spaces that will help manage it.
This is actually the rain garden
that helps mitigate the stormwater from the street.
What will happen is that excess water will flow into the space
where native plants are planted
to help repurpose some of that stormwater.
But it also is a space for community,
and we support each other.
And it's nice to see the sense of community come back
to a place that it once was.
We did come back because we are a resilient community.
You got to remember home ownership
is one of your most important investments,
and you could lose it if you don't protect it.