Basement water across Macomb County depends on which Macomb you live in
People talk about Macomb like it’s one place. Underground it’s at least three, and the right fix for a wet basement in Eastpointe is often the wrong one in Armada.
The south end, older homes and overloaded sewers
Warren, Eastpointe, Roseville, St. Clair Shores and the south side of Clinton Township filled in during the postwar years, with blocks of brick ranches and bungalows on concrete block. The ground is flat lake-plain clay. Water that soaks in stays put, and water that runs off goes into sewers that were sized for a different century of rainfall.
In August 2014 the National Weather Service measured 5.2 inches in Warren in a day. The mayor said roughly 18,000 Warren homes had some flood damage, and a 100-year-old woman died in her flooded basement. Then June 2021 hit the same region. Macomb was left out of the first federal declaration and was added in September after the state appealed. Most of that damage in south Macomb was sewer water coming up through floor drains.
The county has been working on the overflow side. The Chapaton basin in St. Clair Shores was expanded and reopened in 2025 to hold more combined sewage before it reaches the lake. That’s a public fix for a public problem. For your own basement, a backwater valve on the main line is still the thing that actually keeps sewage on the street side.
The middle, the Clinton River country
Sterling Heights, Clinton Township, Utica, Mount Clemens and Shelby Township grew up along the Clinton River and its North and Middle branches. Most of the housing here went up from the 1950s through the 1990s, block walls early on and poured concrete later. The river is a real factor for homes near it. Mount Clemens has flooded from it since long before the 1947 flood that led to the spillway. In April 2026 high water surrounded a senior apartment building in Utica. For most houses in these towns, though, the problem isn’t the river. It’s clay, aging drain tile, and a sump pump that was never given a backup.
There’s a cross-county wrinkle, too. Oakland County’s George W. Kuhn basin releases treated overflow into the Red Run, which flows into Macomb and on to the Clinton. Macomb officials have pushed back on that for years. It matters for the river more than for any single basement, but it’s part of why people here watch the Clinton closely.
The north, wells, septic and newer subdivisions
North of roughly 26 Mile, places like Washington Township, Romeo, Armada, Ray and Bruce are a mix of farms, old village houses and 1990s and 2000s subdivisions with deep basements and egress windows. Many homes are on private wells and septic systems overseen by the county health department. Here we see more settling backfill, more water at window wells, and more care needed about where a sump pump discharges. You don’t want it anywhere near your drain field.
What we’d tell anyone in Macomb
Figure out which water you have before you pay anyone. Water that seeps through walls or the floor joint is groundwater, and interior drain tile with a sump is usually the answer in this clay. Water that comes up the floor drain and smells is sewage, and it needs a valve, not a system. Water that only shows up in one corner after a downpour is very often a downspout. Fix that yourself first, and call us if it doesn’t solve it.
Basement Waterproofing Services in Macomb County
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