If sewage or stormwater came up through your floor drain in Dearborn, a clock started the day you found it. Michigan gives you 45 days to put the city on written notice, and missing that date can end the claim before anyone looks at it. Everything below is about getting that notice right, then building the file that goes with it.
Why Dearborn basements back up
The city is direct about it. Dearborn's sewer system was built to handle 3 inches of rain in 24 hours. Storms dropped about 5.8 inches in 2014 and 7.5 inches in 2021, and both times the system could not keep up, so water pushed back into basements (City of Dearborn, Flood Preparedness and Recovery). A backup like that is a sewer capacity problem, not a sign you did something wrong.
The housing stock makes it worse. Dearborn scores 76 on the Basement Risk Index, 18th of 116 metro communities, with 71 percent of homes built before 1960 and a median year built of 1952. That score is modeled from housing data, not measured house by house.
The 45-day written notice
Michigan law says a claim over a sewage backup needs written notice to the government agency that runs the sewer within 45 days after you discovered the damage, or should have discovered it. The notice must include your name, address, and phone number, the address of the damaged property, the date you discovered the damage, and a brief description of the claim. The agency can then inspect the property (Michigan law on sewage backup claims, MCL 691.1419).
Send it even if you are not sure the city is at fault. You can sort out fault later. You cannot get back a missed deadline. Keep a copy and a record of how and when you sent it.
Where to file in Dearborn
Dearborn takes claims through its Department of Law, on the City of Dearborn Claim Form. Mail or deliver it to 16901 Michigan Avenue, Suite 14, Dearborn, Michigan 48126. The claims line is 313-943-2035. The city says the process usually takes 30 to 60 days (City of Dearborn, File a Claim).
For anything that is not a claim, such as reporting a backup in progress or asking about city flood programs, the general line is 313-943-2150, or dial 311.
What to document before you clean up
The city asks for two repair estimates, photos, paid invoices and receipts, your insurance policy and declarations page, and a detailed list of what was damaged. Most of that is easier to collect before the cleanup starts.
- Photograph the water line on the walls and the floor drain before anything is moved.
- Photograph each damaged item where it sits, then again at the curb.
- Write down the date and time you found the water and how deep it was.
- Keep every receipt: pumping, cleanup, dumpster, replacement items.
- Get two written repair estimates, not one.
Then dry things out fast. The EPA advises drying wet materials within 24 to 48 hours to keep mold from starting (EPA, A Brief Guide to Mold, Moisture and Your Home). Anything that stayed wet longer, especially carpet and drywall that touched sewage, usually goes.
Call your insurer the same week
The city claim and an insurance claim run in parallel, not one after the other. A standard homeowners policy often excludes sewer backup unless you bought the water backup endorsement, so find your declarations page and check for it. If you have it, file with your insurer too and tell the adjuster you have also notified the city.
Be honest with yourself about the odds
Filing on time does not mean getting paid. The city reviews each claim, and a storm that overwhelmed the whole system is not the same as a failure at your street. The notice keeps the door open. Your insurance endorsement, if you have one, is usually the faster money.
Before the next storm
Dearborn points residents to the same two fixes we recommend across this site: a check valve, often called a backwater valve, that stops sewer water from flowing back into the house, and a battery-backup sump pump that keeps running when the power goes out in a storm. As a planning range, either one runs $1,500 to $3,500 installed. For a basement that has already backed up once, the valve is the one that addresses what happened.
Sources reviewed
Primary sources checked September 2026:
- Michigan law on sewage backup claims, MCL 691.1419, legislature.mi.gov.
- City of Dearborn, File a Claim, dearborn.gov.
- City of Dearborn, Flood Preparedness and Recovery, dearborn.gov.
- EPA, A Brief Guide to Mold, Moisture and Your Home, epa.gov.