Just when you thought things couldn't get worse.
Two Michigan Dams Fail, Unleashing Flood and Thousands of Evacuations
CATASTROPHIC
Blake Montgomery Reporter
Updated May. 20, 2020
A second dam in central Michigan failed late Thursday after two days of heavy rain, unleashing a flood on the city of Midland and neighboring counties and prompting evacuation orders. The Edenville Dam collapsed at 5:45 p.m. CT, followed an hour later by the Sanford Dam, after 3 to 5 inches of precipitation.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer issued a declaration of emergency and told residents “do not hesitate” to evacuate, despite the state’s stay-at-home orders because of the coronavirus pandemic. “Please, get somewhere safe now,” Whitmer said at a 10 p.m. press conference.
A worst-case scenario for Midland would put the city of 40,000 under as much as 9 feet of water within 12 to 15 hours. Downstream residents as far away as Ohio and Kentucky were advised to flee as well.
City Manager Brad Kaye put the potential high-water mark at nearly 5 feet above the region’s historic flooding in the 1980s. “While the 1986 flood was a 100-year flood, what we’re looking at here is an event that is the equivalent of a 500-year flood,” he told MLive. “It’s something that is extremely rare, extremely catastrophic, and quite dangerous.”
pictures:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/edenville-dam-in-michigan-fails-unleashes-flood-and-causes-evacuations?via=newsletter&source=CSAMedition
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