[Rhodes22-list] Flooding Due To Dam Failure

[Rod Ellner]

Roger

Sorry to hear.  Thoughts and prayers. Rod and Mary

Sent from my iPhone

> On May 20, 2020, at 10:44 AM, Jesse Shumaker <jesse.laten.shumaker at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> So sorry to hear about the terrible situation!  It sounds like you are as
> prepared as you can be to ride things out.  Hoping for the best for you,
> your family and all those affected by this.
> 
>> On Wed, May 20, 2020 at 10:16 AM Mary Lou Troy <mtroy at atlanticbb.net> wrote:
>> 
>> I was wondering who I knew up that way. So very sorry that so many have
>> been so affected by this disaster. Our best wishes for health, safety
>> and recovery to you, your family and your neighbors.
>> 
>> Mary Lou
>> 
>>> On 5/20/2020 5:34 AM, ROGER PIHLAJA wrote:
>>> Hi All,
>>> 
>>> Well, the last 48 hours have been very costly.  My house is on Sanford
>> Lake, the southern most of 4 artificial impoundments on the Tittabawassee
>> River.  Sanford Lake is ~10 miles long and ~1300 acres in area.  I live on
>> the west side of the lake ~7 miles north of the Sanford dam.  Going north
>> from my house, Wixom Lake is about 3 miles away by water.  North of Wixom
>> Lake, there is Smallwood Lake and then north of that, Secord Lake.  Of the
>> 4 lakes, Wixom Lake is the biggest at ~2000 acres.
>>> 
>>> We got ~7 inches of rain starting Sunday afternoon thru Tuesday
>> morning.  At ~14:00 on Tuesday, we got the alert that the Wixom dam had
>> failed.  I was surprised at how slowly the water rose.  With a dam failure,
>> you might expect a “wall of water” to come roaring thru.  But, it took
>> several hours for the water level to rise.  My house sits on a bluff ~30
>> feet above the water and I had a beach and a 12 ft X 40 ft deck built over
>> the water.  Normally, S/V Dynamic Equilibrium would have been in it’s slip
>> alongside my dock.  But, it was safely on its trailer in my driveway.
>> Anyway, our deck was submerged ~3 feet underwater for ~2 hours in swift
>> current before it failed and was swept away.  Unfortunately, our floating
>> swim platform was tied off to the deck and was swept away with it.  The
>> rack for launching/retrieving/storing our RIB was tied off to a big tree,
>> so it’s still with us.  Once the flood got going, my normally placid lake
>> turned into a 200 yard wide, class 4 rapid in front of my house!  There
>> were standing waves, and whirlpools.  Tons of debris, storage sheds, boats,
>> docks, boat lifts, and uprooted trees went past my house.  The water level
>> rose up to about waist deep on the 1st floor of the houses in the flood
>> plain on the west side of the lake.  Deb & I watched an incredible disaster
>> unfold in slow motion looking out our dining room window.
>>> 
>>> Electricity, cable TV, internet, and landline telephone are all out.  We
>> are running on our natural gas-fired whole house back-up generator.  I am
>> using my i-phone as a mobile hot spot to get on the internet to write
>> this.  We have a well and a septic field and lots of stored food.  Deb and
>> I both have a bag packed and we have an escape route planned if that
>> becomes necessary.  However, we believe we are better off sheltering in
>> place vs. evacuating.  We can live here a long time W/O any assistance.  At
>> our elevation, half of Midland county would have to be flooded before the
>> water would even reach the lower level of my house.
>>> 
>>> Unfortunately, our inflatable Walker Bay RIB, the Honda outboard, and
>> the trailer were all in storage at Johnson Mini Storage, which is very
>> close to the Wixom dam.  I can’t get over there to see; but, I expect the
>> storage facility isn’t there any more!  The radio says the Sanford dam was
>> breached; but, the lake level is still ~10 feet above normal summer pool.
>> So, I presume the Sanford dam is still standing, at least for the moment.
>> The radio also says Secord dam and Smallwood dam are in trouble.  But,
>> although Sanford Lake level is still high, the current has slacked off a
>> lot.  So, the upstream dams, except for Wixom dam must still be standing,
>> again at least for the moment.
>>> 
>>> As bad as we have it, the folks downstream of Sanford dam are in real
>> trouble.  The radio reports record flooding in my hometown of Sanford and
>> in Midland, where I used to work at Dow Chemical.  The Tittabawassee River
>> literally runs right thru the Dow Chemical complex in Midland.  I hope they
>> were able to get all the chemical plants shut down safely!
>>> 
>>> So, although I could have done a few things better, we are both OK and
>> safe.  Life here on Sanford Lake is not going to be “normal” for a long
>> time.  Even if I replace my dock, I think there is going to be so much
>> debris in the lake that sailing is going to be impossible.
>>> 
>>> Roger Pihlaja
>>> S/V Dynamic Equilibrium
>>> 
>>> 
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>>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
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