A small dam failed in Alcona County, Michigan, and others are in danger as state officials watch for rising waters caused by heavy rain and melting snow. The focus is primarily on the northern part of the state and the Upper Peninsula, where other rain-related damage includes washed-out roads, power outages and residential evacuations in some areas.
The privately owned Bucks Pond Dam near Barton City, Mich., failed on April 13, allowing water to flow into Hubbard Lake, causing road damage but no safety concerns, according to local news reports.
On April 14, Governor Gretchen Whitmer extended the state of emergency first declared on April 10 in Cheboygan County, where officials are concerned about rising water that threatens to overflow the Cheboygan Dam and Dam Complex on the Cheboygan River, which is managed by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.
“We’ve been in Cheboygan with an incident management team all week,” he said Michelle Crook, senior project engineer for the department mid-afternoon on April 15. “We’re 5.5 inches from overflowing our dam.”
In Cheboygan, workers have placed large sandbags and 11 pumps, including two 24-inch pumps to maneuver the water around the dam. A The crane was used to remove six gates to let water flow into Lake Huron.
Describing the impacts on other dams, “we’ve had several that had roadways and several with water on our freeboard. There are several other privately owned hydro dams upstream from Cheboygan that are experiencing high water events and road flooding,” Crook said.
“The entire lower and upper north of the peninsula is experiencing road washouts and dam overflow,” he added. “Water levels are below the crest of the dam [in Cheboygan]but conditions could change quickly with more rain,” Whitmer said in a news release.
Other dams being monitored for structural compromise include Tippy Dam in Manistee County; Mio Dam in Alcona County; Bellaire Dam, north of Traverse City; and Homestead Dam on the Betsie River in Benzonia Township.
By midnight on April 15, a monthly rainfall record of 8.25 inches was set.
