The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
‘Truly devastating’
Officials assess flood damage
MIDLAND, MICH. » It could be days before the full scope of damage from flooding in Central Michigan that submerged houses, washed out roads and threatened a Superfund site is apparent, authorities warned Thursday, as Gov. Gretchen Whitmer expressed hope the president will soon sign a federal emergency declaration.
Some of the floodwaters from heavy rains that overtook two dams retreated, but much remained underwater, including in Midland, the headquarters of Dow Chemical Co. And floodwaters continued to threaten downstream communities.
“The damage is truly devastating to see how high the water levels are, to see roofs barely visible in parts of Midland, and to see a lake that has been drained in another part,” said Whitmer, who toured Midland County on Wednesday.
The flooding forced about 11,000 people to evacuate their homes in the Midland area, about 140 miles north of Detroit, following what the National Weather Service called “catastrophic dam failures” at the Edenville Dam, about 20 miles northwest of Midland, and the Sanford Dam, about 9 miles northwest of the city.
Whitmer said she spoke briefly with President Donald Trump on Wednesday, and that her office had been in contact with the Federal Emergency Management Agency about securing federal aid for the area.
She said she hoped he would sign a federal emergency declaration during his visit to a Ford manufacturing plant in Michigan on Thursday. She said he asked about casualties and damage.
“He did say, ‘If I get an opportunity to go to Midland, would you consider joining me,’” said Whitmer. “I said, ‘Of course I would.’”
No flood-related deaths or injuries have been reported.
The floodwaters mixed with containment ponds at a Dow Chemical Co. plant and could displace sediment from a downstream Superfund site, though the company said there was no risk to people or the environment.
Dow said the containment ponds held only water, and it has detected no chemical releases from the plant in Midland where the company was founded, though the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said state officials would evaluate the plant when they’re able. Once the flooding recedes, Dow will be required to assess the Superfund
site — contaminated with dioxins the company dumped in the last century — to determine if any contamination was released, the EPA said.
Midland City Manager Brad Kaye said it was fortunate that the Tittabawassee River crested at just over 35 feet (11 meters), about 3 feet (90 centimeters) below the forecast level.
Kaye warned that it could take four or five days for the floodwaters to recede, and asked residents to use caution when traveling or returning to their homes.
“Don’t rush out thinking that you can just rush back to your homes, because the water is still there ... this is not over,” Kaye said.
Temporary shelters still held scores of residents displaced by the flooding, including at Midland High School, where 90% of the 100-120 people sleeping in the school’s gym are senior citizens, said shelter coordinator Jerry Wasserman.
He said the shelter was taking extra precautions due to the combination of their guests’ ages and the coronavirus pandemic.
“We had to deal with COVID and then deal with their angst of what’s happened to their house and their pets and all this” Wasserman said Thursday.
Dan Roberts, who was a Midland High student more than a half-century ago, spent a few nights at the shelter.
“They’ve been watching after us carefully. It’s been a little hectic, but I would not complain at all,” said Roberts, a 70-year-old who lives at the Riverside Place senior living community that was overcome with floodwaters. He plans to go stay with his sister in the Flint area.
Other area residents returned to their homes to find heavy damage. And around Wixom Lake in Midland County’s Hope Township, which lost most of its water after the Edenville Dam failed, residents wondered Thursday when, or if, water will return.
“I’m sick about it. You know, I mean, it’s just sickening,” said resident Glenn Hart, 66, who surveyed the lake with his grandson.
“Usually, that’s 21 feet deep out there in the cut,” Hart said, pointing from his backyard to the muddy ground that used to be the lake bottom. “Good fishing area. Well, there’s no fish now. And we don’t know when we’ll get water again.”
Mark Musselman’s home is a total loss. He planned to fly to Florida later Thursday, then drive his motor home back, set it up in the driveway and oversee the tearing down of his house.
“Well, everything’s destroyed pretty much,” Musselman said. “You know, we had no way of knowing. We had plenty of time. We could have got everything out.
“But we just thought that, you know, it was just going to come up. It wouldn’t be any big deal,” he said.
The nearly century-old Edenville Dam has been the target of lengthy investigations by federal regulators, who revoked the facility’s license two years ago due to non-compliance issues that included spillway capacity and the inability to handle the most severe flood reasonably possible. That year, the state rated the dam, built in 1924, in unsatisfactory condition.
Officials have said the Sanford Dam, built in 1925, was overflowing but the extent of structural damage isn’t yet known. It most recently received a fair condition rating.
Both are in the process of being sold
Whitmer said Wednesday that the state would investigate the operators of the dams and “pursue every line of legal recourse we have.”
The National Weather Service said communities farther downstream should brace for flooding in the coming days. A flood warning was in effect Thursday along the Tittabawassee River from Midland downstream into Saginaw, and flooding in that area was possible through the weekend.
The flooding washed away some roadways, and left others impassable. Selina Tisdale, spokeswoman for the city of Midland, said roads must be inspected for damage that could make traveling hazardous.
“We’re working to get information to folks on when they can return to their houses, but stress that a lot of infrastructure gets compromised,” Tisdale said.