Oops....damn dams
Posted: Wed May 20, 2020 1:04 am
Or....How my brother lost his lake house.
So, we've been getting a little rain lately. But some back story first...
Aboot 25 years ago, my brother bought a lake house. As part of the process, he had to have a flood evaluation done in order to get the mortgage. It's not a regular lake, it's a reservoir. He tried to point out to the bank folk that his house would never flood, because the dam creating the lake would breech before that happened, and it would be the folks down stream that would need to worry aboot flooding. They didn't care, they made him pay for the evaluation anyways. And apparently we like to put these things in series on a single water way...because there is another reservoir down stream, and yet another up stream.
So, we've been getting a little rain lately...and in anticipation of higher water levels, all three dams have had their spillways fully open. That by itself means flood conditions for anything down stream. But today, things went from bad to worse. Earlier this afternoon, the dam 12 miles up stream breeched...
The water at bro's house came to 4' below his foundation level.
Then the dam on his lake breeched...
You can see what that meant for folks down stream...
Here's video from one of those down stream bridges...
The next dam, 7 miles down stream, looked like this, BEFORE the breechs...
The spillways are already causing major flooding. Now they say this dam's breech is imminent.
Further down stream is Midland, home of the famous tridge...that's right, tridge, a three legged bridge. And BEFORE the breeches, it looked like this...
You couldn't even get to the fukking thing without a boat.
I grew up in Midland. The neighborhoods I lived in have been evacuated. After Midland comes Saginaw, and then Bay City, before dumping into the Saginaw Bay on lake Huron.
So while my brother didn't lose the house, he did lose the lake. It is now a giant mud puddle with a river running through it.
So, we've been getting a little rain lately. But some back story first...
Aboot 25 years ago, my brother bought a lake house. As part of the process, he had to have a flood evaluation done in order to get the mortgage. It's not a regular lake, it's a reservoir. He tried to point out to the bank folk that his house would never flood, because the dam creating the lake would breech before that happened, and it would be the folks down stream that would need to worry aboot flooding. They didn't care, they made him pay for the evaluation anyways. And apparently we like to put these things in series on a single water way...because there is another reservoir down stream, and yet another up stream.
So, we've been getting a little rain lately...and in anticipation of higher water levels, all three dams have had their spillways fully open. That by itself means flood conditions for anything down stream. But today, things went from bad to worse. Earlier this afternoon, the dam 12 miles up stream breeched...
The water at bro's house came to 4' below his foundation level.
Then the dam on his lake breeched...
You can see what that meant for folks down stream...
Here's video from one of those down stream bridges...
The next dam, 7 miles down stream, looked like this, BEFORE the breechs...
The spillways are already causing major flooding. Now they say this dam's breech is imminent.
Further down stream is Midland, home of the famous tridge...that's right, tridge, a three legged bridge. And BEFORE the breeches, it looked like this...
You couldn't even get to the fukking thing without a boat.
I grew up in Midland. The neighborhoods I lived in have been evacuated. After Midland comes Saginaw, and then Bay City, before dumping into the Saginaw Bay on lake Huron.
So while my brother didn't lose the house, he did lose the lake. It is now a giant mud puddle with a river running through it.