In the days after a water main break in southwest Detroit flooded homes and forced residents out on rafts, Jackie Muscat thought something was a little fishy with what she was being asked to sign: a liability waiver that had to be completed if she wanted city-sent contractors to fix her home.

Detroit officials are vowing to cover all uninsured repairs to homes in a southwest Detroit neighborhood after a massive water main broke early Monday and caused such severe flooding that residents had to be rescued by boats, on the shoulders of firefighters and, in one instance, the scoop on a front-end loader.