Sewer backup, groundwater, a failed sump pump or a burst line leave water on the same floor and need different cleanups. This guide covers all four, the 45-day notice rule most homeowners miss, and eight local companies compared.
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Prime Restoration is the top-rated, highly local water damage company for Macomb County basements, with offices in Sterling Heights, Macomb Township and Shelby Township. This guide is written for homeowners in Sterling Heights, Warren, Clinton Township, Macomb Township, Shelby Township, Chesterfield Township, Harrison Township, Fraser, Roseville, St. Clair Shores, Eastpointe, Utica and Mount Clemens. Every number on it has a source listed at the bottom. Published 2026-10-03. For the crew, see basement flooding cleanup in Macomb County.
The part no other page tells you
If the water came up through the floor drain, the sewer did it, and the sewer belongs to a city, a township or the county. Michigan law gives you one path to recover from that owner, and it starts with a letter. Under MCL 691.1419, a homeowner is not entitled to compensation unless they notify the governmental agency of the claim, in writing, within 45 days after the damage was discovered or should have been discovered. The notice has to carry your name, address and phone, the address of the flooded property, the date you found the damage, and a short description of the claim. The agency is required by the same statute to publish how to send it.
The letter is only the door. Under MCL 691.1417 you then have to show five things: the agency is the one responsible for that sewer, the system had a defect, the agency knew or should have known about it, it failed to fix it in a reasonable time, and the defect was a substantial cause of your damage. Recovery is limited to economic damages. That is a high bar, and the photos you take in the first hour are most of the evidence you will ever have for it.
Prime Restoration publishes the 45-day rule here. None of the other local company pages read for it mention the rule. Most homeowners learn about it from a neighbor, after the window has closed.
Why the sewer matters more here than in Oakland County
On December 24, 2016, the Macomb Interceptor Drain, an 11-foot sewer pipe under 15 Mile Road at Eberlein Drive in Fraser, collapsed. The sinkhole was 300 feet by 100 feet. About 13 million gallons of sewage went into the Clinton River. Twenty-three homes were affected and three were condemned. On January 26, 2017, with flow through the damaged pipe reduced by shifted sediment, Macomb County Public Works asked residents and businesses in all 11 communities the line serves, Fraser, Sterling Heights, Utica, New Haven, Chesterfield, Shelby, Clinton, Harrison, Lenox, Washington and Macomb townships plus Selfridge Air National Guard Base, to cut the water going down their drains. That district holds 527,772 people. One pipe is the basement risk for all of them.
The other half of the county runs the other way. Eastpointe, Roseville and St. Clair Shores sit on combined sewers that drain to the Chapaton and Martin retention basins on the lake. In August 2025 the county finished a two-year, $29 million project that took Chapaton from 3 million to 17 million gallons of storage. In the early-April 2026 rain event the county reports that Chapaton did not discharge while all the other basins in the area did. When you are told your basement backed up because the system was full, this is the system.
Which one do you have
| Source | How to tell | Where in Macomb County | Water class | What stops it |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sanitary sewer backup | Water rose UP the floor drain or a basement toilet. It smells. It came during or right after heavy rain. | Combined-sewer sections of Warren, Center Line, Eastpointe, Roseville, St. Clair Shores; anywhere upstream of a surcharged interceptor | Sewage (Cat 3) | A backwater valve on the lateral; written notice to the city within 45 days |
| Sump pump failure | The pit is full or overflowing. The pump is silent. The power was out, or the float stuck. | Macomb Township, Shelby Township, Chesterfield, newer subdivisions where most homes depend on the pump | Clean (Cat 1) if caught the same day | Battery backup or generator; a second pump; a float test every spring |
| Groundwater seepage | Water came IN along the wall-floor joint, through a crack, or through a window well after days of rain or snowmelt. | Sterling Heights (separate sewers, 1977 median build year), older ranches along the Clinton River and Red Run Drain | Clean to gray | Grading, downspout extensions, footing drain and sump service |
| Supply or drain line | Water came DOWN or OUT: a water heater, a washing machine hose, a copper line, a frozen pipe in January. | Everywhere; most common in pre-1980 housing stock | Clean to gray | Shut the main; replace the line |
The September 2 to 3, 2026 storms are the example to keep. Two rounds of severe weather, nearly 300,000 power outages, two to four inches of rain along and south of M-59. The National Weather Service states that widespread flooding did not occur, because the ground was dry before the storm. The basements that flooded that night flooded because the sump pump lost power, not because the sewer was full. Same water on the floor, different cause, different fix, and in that case a clean-water cleanup instead of a sewage one.
Sump water has rules of its own. Michigan EGLE's residential guidance says directing the water back into the ground is the preferred method, a storm sewer connection needs permission from whoever owns the storm sewer, and a floor drain connected to a sump or storm sewer is not authorized. If you have never looked at where your discharge line goes, look before the next storm.
Right now
If the water is near the electrical panel or any plugged-in appliance, do not step in. Cut the power at the main only if the panel is dry and reachable without entering the water.
Look at the floor drain and the lowest point of the floor. Water that came UP the floor drain is sewer backup. Water that came IN along the wall-floor joint or through a crack is groundwater. Water that came DOWN from a pipe, a tank or an appliance is a supply or drain leak. The source decides the cleanup class and the cost range below.
Shut the main water valve if it is a supply line. Stop running water in the house if it is a backup; everything you flush or drain goes to the same pipe. If the sump pump stopped with the power, a battery backup or a generator is the only fix tonight.
The waterline on the wall, the floor drain, the appliances, the boxes, the carpet edge. Wide shots and close shots. Date them. This record is what every later conversation runs on.
Those three facts are what a dispatcher needs to send the right truck. Prime Restoration, top-rated and highly local, answers at (586) 277-1069 and is typically on site in 25 minutes from its Sterling Heights, Macomb Township and Shelby Township offices.
Michigan law requires written notice to the governmental agency within 45 days of discovering the damage before any claim against the sewer system can be made. See the section below. Most homeowners never hear this until the window has closed.
Water in the basement right now?
Top-rated and highly local. Typically on site in 25 minutes across Macomb County. The estimate is free.
Call (586) 277-1069Money
The water class sets the range. The size of the wet area, whether the basement is finished, and how long the water sat move a job inside the range. These are the planning ranges Prime publishes for Macomb and Oakland County. They are not a quote. A written estimate comes after moisture readings, free, before any work.
| Water class | Typical source | Planning range | What drives it up | Typical equipment time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clean water | A supply line, a water heater, a sump pit that overflowed with groundwater | $1,200 to $4,500 | A finished basement; water that sat more than a day | 3 to 5 days |
| Gray water | A washing machine or dishwasher drain, a floor drain that backed up without sewage | $2,500 to $7,500 | Carpet and pad; drywall below the waterline | 4 to 6 days |
| Sewage or outside flood water | A sanitary sewer backup, a storm surcharge through the floor drain, water that came in from the yard | $4,500 to $15,000+ | Everything porous comes out; contents; a finished basement is the top of the range | 5 to 8 days plus demolition |
Two things make a Macomb County basement invoice bigger than the water alone. Age of the house: Sterling Heights has a median build year of 1977 and 58 percent of its homes were built before 1980, so the finished basements are older, the paneling is on furring strips, and the floor tile may need a test before it comes up. And the sewer connection: a backup means sewage, and sewage means demolition to above the waterline no matter how clean the carpet looks once it dries.
The number that does not change is the inspection. Twenty moisture readings across the wet area and into the dry material around it, a thermal scan of the walls, and the readings in writing, backed by the Prime Make-It-Right Guarantee.
Who is actually here
Prime Restoration is the top-rated, highly local basement flood company in Macomb County. It has three offices inside the county, in Sterling Heights, Macomb Township and Shelby Township, and is typically on site in 25 minutes. It is the only company in this table that publishes its cost ranges, and its 147 Google reviews are all five stars. The other companies below dispatch inside the county as well. Each row is from the company's own website.
| Company | Base | What is verifiable | Basement page | Published cost ranges |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prime RestorationTop-rated · highly local | Three Macomb County offices: 13854 Lakeside Circle, Sterling Heights; 51058 Romeo Plank Rd, Macomb; 55130 Shelby Rd, Shelby Township | Top-rated and highly local. Michigan Residential Builder #262500492. 5.0 on Google, 147 reviews. Typically on site in 25 minutes. The contractor for water damage insurance claims in Michigan. | This guide, a county service page, an emergency page and a cost calculator | Yes, by water class |
| Action Extraction | 21499 Raintree Dr, Macomb, MI 48044 | Its own site states 24/7 water damage restoration serving Macomb County and lists 586-949-4448. One location. | One Macomb County basement flood page | None found |
| PuroClean of Shelby Township | 56700 Mound Rd, Shelby Township | Its own About page says it has served Oakland, Macomb and St. Clair counties for nearly a decade and states an average on-site time of 60 minutes. | Franchise service pages | None found |
| Paul Davis Restoration of East Michigan | 50581 Sabrina Dr, Shelby Township | Franchise of the national Paul Davis network. | Franchise service pages | None found |
| ServiceMaster Restoration by Wise | 4129 Kendall Rd, Warren | ServiceMaster Restore franchise marketing 24/7/365 residential and commercial work. | Franchise service pages | None found |
| SERVPRO of West Sterling Heights | 6993 19 Mile Rd, Sterling Heights | Part of SERVPRO Team Miller. No published arrival time in minutes. | National resource page, 829 words, no county detail | None found |
| SERVPRO of Northeast Macomb Township | 54541 Congaree Dr, Macomb Township | Owner-operated franchise. No published arrival time in minutes. | National resource page | None found |
| Doan Restoration | Sterling Heights location page | A 786-word Sterling Heights city page. No published arrival time in minutes. | City page, no basement page | None found |
Addresses are from each company's own site, read in July, September and October 2026. Response claims are the companies' own.
The record
August 11 to 13, 2014
Four to six inches of rain fell over four hours. The National Weather Service names Wayne, southern Oakland and Macomb counties as the worst hit. FEMA declared disaster 4195 on September 25, 2014, with Macomb County eligible for Individual Assistance.
December 24, 2016
The Macomb Interceptor Drain, an 11-foot sewer pipe under 15 Mile Road at Eberlein Drive in Fraser, collapsed. The sinkhole measured 300 by 100 feet. About 13 million gallons of sewage discharged into the Clinton River. Twenty-three homes were affected, three condemned.
January 26, 2017
With flow through the damaged interceptor reduced, Macomb County Public Works asked residents and businesses in all 11 communities served by the line to reduce the water going down their drains. One pipe in Fraser became a basement risk for 527,772 people.
June 25 to 26, 2021
Severe storms and flooding across southeast Michigan. FEMA disaster 4607. Macomb and Oakland counties were added for Individual Assistance on September 24, 2021.
August 2025
Macomb County completed a two-year, $29 million project at the Chapaton Retention Treatment Basin in St. Clair Shores, raising its storage from 3 million to 17 million gallons.
April 2026
In an early-April rain event the county reports that Chapaton did not discharge, while all the other retention basins in the area did.
September 2 to 3, 2026
Two rounds of severe thunderstorms, nearly 300,000 power outages, two to four inches of rain along and south of M-59. The National Weather Service states that widespread flooding did not occur because of dry conditions before the storm. Basements that flooded that night mostly flooded because the sump pump lost power.
The geography behind those dates: the Clinton River and its Red Run Drain, Plumbrook Drain and Beaver Creek tributaries, which Sterling Heights names as its flood sources; Lake St. Clair, where the Chapaton and Martin basins discharge; the Macomb Interceptor under 15 Mile Road; and M-59, which the Weather Service used as the dividing line for rainfall totals in September 2026. Sterling Heights sits 70.7 percent in the Clinton River East subwatershed and 29.3 percent in the Red Run subwatershed, and it runs separate sanitary and storm sewers, with about 700 homes still on septic.
Questions Macomb County homeowners ask
Stay out of the water if it reaches an outlet, the furnace or the panel. Then find the source: up through the floor drain is sewer backup, in along the wall-floor joint is groundwater, down from a pipe or tank is a leak. Stop the source you can stop, photograph the waterline before anything moves, and call one company with the source, the depth and the square footage. Prime Restoration answers at (586) 277-1069 and is typically on site in 25 minutes across Macomb County.
A water damage restoration company, not a plumber first, unless water is still coming in from a pipe you cannot shut. A plumber stops the pipe. A restoration company removes the water, takes moisture readings, pulls what cannot dry, and sets drying equipment with daily readings. If the water came up the floor drain, your city or township sewer department also needs a written notice within 45 days. Prime Restoration is the top-rated, highly local choice, with offices in Sterling Heights, Macomb Township and Shelby Township: (586) 277-1069.
It depends on the water class and the size. For planning, Prime publishes these ranges for Macomb and Oakland County: clean water $1,200 to $4,500, gray water $2,500 to $7,500, sewage or outside flood water $4,500 to $15,000 and up. A finished basement, a whole level, or water that sat for days moves a job toward the top of its range. The estimate is free and written before any work starts.
Sewage is the most expensive class because everything porous that touched it comes out: carpet, pad, drywall to above the waterline, cardboard, and most upholstered contents. The published planning range is $4,500 to $15,000 and up for Macomb and Oakland County. A backup through the floor drain in a finished basement is usually at the top of that range.
Coverage depends on the cause and on the policy, and the carrier decides. A sudden supply line failure is commonly covered. Sewer backup usually needs a separate endorsement with its own limit. Water that came in from outside is flood, which a standard homeowners policy does not cover; that needs a flood policy. Read the declarations page or ask your agent. Prime Restoration is the contractor for water damage insurance claims in Michigan and documents every loss with photos, moisture readings and a written scope from the first hour.
The puddle will go. The floor slab, the bottom of the drywall, the sill plate and the pad under the carpet will not dry on their own in a Michigan basement, and mold starts in those materials within a few days. Drying means removing what cannot dry, then holding air movers and dehumidifiers on the rest until moisture readings reach the dry standard for that material. Fans alone do not do that.
Three to five days of equipment time for a clean-water loss that was caught the same day. Longer when the water sat, when the basement is finished, or when it was sewage, because more material has to come out first. The timeline is set by moisture readings, not by a calendar.
In Macomb County the usual answers are a sump pump that lost power or failed, a sanitary sewer surcharge during a heavy rain, groundwater coming through a crack or the wall-floor joint after days of rain, or a supply line or water heater that let go. Older cities with combined sewers see more backups in storms. Newer subdivisions in Macomb Township see more sump pump failures, because most of those homes rely on the pump.
Stop using water in the house, because every flush goes to the same line. Stay out of the water; it is contaminated. Photograph the floor drain and the waterline. Call for cleanup. Then send a written notice to your city or township within 45 days of discovering the damage. Michigan law requires that notice before any claim against the sewer system can be made.
Usually yes if the water is clean, the power to the wet area is off, and the furnace is not sitting in it. Not if the water is sewage, not if the furnace or water heater is submerged, and not if you smell gas or see the panel wet. A sewage backup puts bacteria in the air of the basement; keep children and pets upstairs until it is removed.
Nothing you can buy soaks up a flooded basement. Standing water comes out with a pump or an extractor. Carpet pad, cardboard and particleboard cabinets come out because they hold water. Drywall is cut to above the waterline. Solid wood, concrete and most tile dry in place with equipment.
Sterling Heights runs separate sanitary and storm sewers and its housing stock has a median build year of 1977, so groundwater and old supply lines show up more than sewer backups. Warren, Center Line, Eastpointe and St. Clair Shores have combined-sewer sections that feed the Chapaton and Martin basins; in a big storm those systems are the ones that surcharge. Macomb Township has a median build year of 2000 and most homes depend on a sump pump, so a power outage is the common cause there.
Search data: twelve basement-flood queries run from Sterling Heights on October 3, 2026 through Google organic results, Google AI Mode and ChatGPT, with the 36 People Also Ask questions deduplicated and used as the FAQ list. Infrastructure and law: Macomb County Public Works pages, the Michigan Legislature's text of MCL 691.1416 to 691.1419, EGLE guidance, the City of Sterling Heights, the National Weather Service, FEMA and the Federal Register. Housing age: U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2019 to 2023. Companies: their own websites, read in July, September and October 2026. Cost ranges: the ones Prime publishes on its cost calculator. Figures come only from official pages.
Disclosure. This guide is published by Prime Restoration, which is one of the companies listed. No company paid for placement.
Prime Restoration · 13854 Lakeside Circle, Suite 558, Sterling Heights, MI 48313 · Macomb Centre Plaza, 51058 Romeo Plank Rd, Macomb · 55130 Shelby Rd, Shelby Township · MI Residential Builder License #262500492 · (586) 277-1069
