A referral service, not a contractor. One independent Dearborn waterproofing pro gives you a free estimate.

Home › Dearborn, MI

Dearborn, Michigan: the oldest basements in the suburbs, and the 2021 flood

Local facts with sources · updated October 19, 2026

The Census puts Dearborn's median build year at 1950: half the city's 37,400 homes predate 1950 and 80% predate 1970. The city says its sewer system was designed for three inches of rain in 24 hours, and that about 5.8 inches fell in the August 2014 storm and about 7.5 inches in June 2021, with the northeast and southeast sections hit hardest. Old brick foundations, group-D clay, and a sewer that overfills in a big storm: that's the Dearborn basement.

Housing stock

ACS 2024 build-era shares for Dearborn: 23% built in 1939 or earlier, 27% in the 1940s, 21% in the 1950s, 9% in the 1960s. Only about 6% of the city's housing has been built since 2000. Owner-occupancy is 72%, and the population is about 106,400, the largest of the five cities on this test.

East Dearborn and the south end are the pre-war brick bungalows and two-flats near the Rouge plant; the Ford Homes Historic District (1919–20 company housing between Military and Nowlin) and Springwells Park are the best-known older plats on the west side; west Dearborn beyond Outer Drive and Dearborn Hills are 1940s–60s brick ranches and colonials. The city's neighborhoods page lists about a dozen active associations, from Concerned Residents for South Dearborn and the Morley Area Residents to Dearborn Hills, Golfview Oaks and the Ford Homes district.

Soil, by part of the city

USDA Soil Data Access at Schaefer and Warren (east Dearborn) returns Kibbie-Urban land complex: Kibbie is somewhat poorly drained, hydrologic group D, with poorly drained Colwood inclusions. At Outer Drive and Cherry Hill and at Ford Road and Telegraph (west Dearborn) it returns Livonia-Urban land-Brems complex: Livonia soils somewhat poorly drained (group C), Brems moderately well drained (A). In Dearborn Hills it's Blount-Urban land complex (somewhat poorly drained, group D, with poorly drained Ziegenfuss). In the Salina area of south Dearborn the map shows Fortress-family fill, moderately well drained, over the industrial land near the river.

Reading it: east Dearborn's group-D Kibbie soils barely absorb rain, so storm water runs to the sewer and the water table sits high around basements; west Dearborn's Livonia-Brems mix drains a little better, which is why seepage complaints there skew toward specific walls and window wells rather than whole-basement water.

The Rouge and the floods

The Rouge River bends through the middle of Dearborn, past the Ford estate and the Rouge plant, and the city's Colson-Palmer storm line drains to it; one of the city's post-2021 projects is a headwall and gates to keep river backwater out of that line. The city's Flood Preparedness page is unusually direct: the sewer system was built for three inches in 24 hours; about 5.8 inches fell in 2014 and 7.5 inches in June 2021. On August 11, 2014, the National Weather Service recorded 4–6 inches across southeast Michigan in about four hours. The June 25–26, 2021 storms produced FEMA major disaster declaration DR-4607, which designated Wayne County, and federal disaster recovery (CDBG-DR) funds are now going to rain gardens, bioretention and tree planting in the northeast and southeast sections the city identified as most impacted.

Neighborhood notes

General notes from Census build eras, the city's own flood page and USDA map units, not records of specific addresses.

Permits in Dearborn

The City of Dearborn's permit applications, including plumbing permits for sump pumps, backwater valves and sewer work, are submitted, paid for and issued online through BS&A Online Services; the city's plumbing permit guide notes that a residential plumbing permit includes one rough and one final inspection. Interior drain tile tied to a sump rides on the plumbing permit; exterior excavation in the right-of-way needs engineering approval. The contractor pulls permits under their own state license, which you can verify on Michigan LARA. For flooding during a storm, the city's flood page carries the current reporting number.

Ask for a free Dearborn estimate

Ask for a free estimate

Tell us what happened in the basement. One independent contractor who works in Dearborn calls you to arrange a free visit and a written estimate. The referral is free; you never pay us.

By sending, you agree we may pass your details to one independent local contractor so they can contact you about this request. Privacy.

Sources