Michigan flooding: ‘One, two, three punch’ of rain overwhelms soggy state

https://www.mlive.com/weather/2020/05/michigan-flooding-one-two-three-punch-of-rain-overwhelms-soggy-state.html

Updated 7:31 PM; May 20, 2020 7:29 PM

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Mother Nature is conducting an unscheduled test of Michigan’s water infrastructure this week, and the results are not stellar for a state already soaked to the bone. Hydrologists characterize the past week as a “one, two, three punch” of rain that has overwhelmed systems designed to keep people safe and dry.

“The fact that we’ve been very wet for the past one, three and five years does come into play,” said Andy Dixon, a hydrologist with the National Weather Service in Grand Rapids.

“Even if we hadn’t been that wet, we’d still be having issues.”

Across the Lower Peninsula, roads are closed by water spilling out of lakes, stream and rivers. Groundwater tables are high in many areas, particularly those with sand or gravel soil. The inland wetness coincides with record high water levels on the Great Lakes, which have been unruly neighbors of late to the owners of lakefront property — rapidly eroding in many areas.

Soils across the state are saturated. Experts liken it to a sponge that cannot hold any more water. Multiple cities and counties have declared local emergencies in order to access state resources.

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In Muskegon, the city got 3.35 inches of rainfall on Sunday, marking the second heaviest 24-hour rainfall total in May since 1904, according to the weather service.

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Rainfall overwhelmed sewers in Ann Arbor Tuesday, forcing the wastewater plant to release an estimated 600 to 1,500 gallons of partially treated sewage into the Huron River, which crested just shy of 16 feet on May 19 — a daily record.

“At the time of this event, the flow into the plant was nearly triple the normal amount due to the significant rainfall that occurred in the vicinity over the past two days,” the city said.

All eyes have been fixed on Midland County since Tuesday, when a poorly maintained hydroelectric dam collapsed in Edenville. Floodwaters destroyed bridges and overtopped the Sanford Dam on their way to Midland, where the Tittabawassee River was cresting at about 35 feet on Wednesday evening. The crest tops the river’s 1986 all-time record level.

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Patrick Bak, a meteorologist with National Weather Service in Gaylord, said the water that overwhelmed the Edenville Dam fell in a slow-moving weather system that dropped steady rain throughout Sunday and Monday in Gladwin, Arenac, Ogemaw and Iosco counties.

Between four and 8 inches of rain fell in some places north of the Saginaw Bay area.

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“Experts have described this as a 500-year event. It’s going to have a major impact on the community and our state for the time to come,” Whitmer said.

Charlotte Jameson, a policy director for the Michigan Environmental Council, said the dam breach and resulting flood highlight the need to invest in infrastructure that’s prepared to handle increasingly extreme weather linked to global climate change.

Jameson expressed concern about floodwaters mingling with containment ponds at the Dow Chemical Co. manufacturing complex in Midland, and called that a wake-up call. She noted that such toxic containment ponds, often filled with heavy metals around power plants and manure around factory farms, can threaten water quality if breached by floodwaters.

“In a world where we’re regularly flooding, what does that mean in terms of water quality and what people are being exposed to going forward?” she asked.

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tags: extreme weather, severe weather