Dopers from Michigan, are you affected by the flooding?

It’s not like y’all needed another disaster on top of the current one! :smack: Let us know how you’re doing.

Mod: will someone edit my title? I wasn’t really trying to introduce a Zen note or anything…

Fixed.

It looks and sounds awful, and someone on another website pointed out that there’s a nuclear reactor and at least one Dow factory in the region. That’s REALLY scary.

That’s my hometown, I haven’t lived there for 30 years, but I still know people who do. It’s an awful situation.

I don’t know what reactor they were referring to, but either way it’s way down the list of concerns. There’s a gas-fired power plant that was originally designed as a nuclear power plant, but due to a variety of problems it never went online and was eventually converted to gas. Dow Chemical also has (or at one point had) a small research-size reactor used for neutron experiments, not power generation. I don’t know if it’s still operational, but it wouldn’t be a major threat if it is.

The headquarters of Dow Chemical are in Midland, and there’s some production that happens there too. That could be a mess, but the problem is still dwarfed by the direct threat the flood is posing to residences.

I’m way on the west side near the lakeshore. Basement got some water seeping in, but it seems to do that every time it’s rained hard. Just a puddle, really. Nothing outlandish right where I am.

Girl I work with had video on her phone of relatives kayaking down their neighborhood street. They’re somewhere more low-lying, I suppose.

It was clear and sunny today, hopefully that helps. And double hopefully the mosquito population doesn’t go through the roof.

Oh! Fireflies like damp ground! Maybe we’ll get fireflies soon, instead …

Hi…long time lurker, rarely have posted but keep up with you all daily. Sanford is my home town and I currently live in Midland. As the flood is receding, the damage is becoming more apparent. We are a strong community, though, and will support each other through rebuilding. Right now, it feels devestating to see so many people struggling :(.

As far as personally, I am good. I live in a second story apartment in an area of town not affected. I have a daughter and grandkids in Sanford that are far enough from the lake that they have not been evacuated, but have no power. They are usually only a 10 minute ride away, but now over an hour away if I need to get to them, as to so many rooads are out. My son lives down river in Saginaw, he has been evacuated and his home is flooded. One of my sisters has also been evacuated and not sure of the extent of flooding, but most likely severe as to where she is located.

Word is Trump will make an appearance tomorrow. Maybe he’ll bring us some paper towels or something.

It’s a privately owned dam, the owners have been negligent for 16 years, in an area of the state that doesn’t need none of that “big government.” Let ‘em drown.

Wow…I ensure you that we are not all anti-government. Midland is very republican, but certainly not all of us. Thank you for wishing me and my family (I guess including 5 month old grandson) to drown.

It’s the research reactor they’re talking about and it was already shut down due to the covid pandemic.

^ This. We’re talking about cities under water, houses floating down streets and rivers, roads washed out, tens of thousands of people displaced, some now homeless.

The problem with your statement is that the dam owners aren’t anywhere near the place and won’t be in danger. It’s all the other people downstream who had no power to do anything about the dam who will suffer.

My bank is in Midland, but they had already reduced their staff, so it was impossible to get phone support anyway.

My nephew used to live in Midland – I don’t know what area.

Brian

The little creek behind my house now has enough water that I don’t feel ashamed when I say I have waterfront property, so that’s an effect.

As for the stuff in Midland, I’d been planning an easy overnight trip from the Tridge to Clare and back as soon as the travel ban lifted, but that’s probably off. Breakfast at Alex’s Railside on the way in, and ice cream on the way back… hell, that whole place might be washed away.

yes but we’re talking about a deep red area of Michigan. The one which gave us the DeVos clan. the people who live there are all too happy to parrot the “big government” and “over-regulation” lines until shit goes bad, then they want to be bailed out. And in this case, a privately owned dam failed because the owners fought off regulators. And now they’re screaming to be rescued because suddenly regulations aren’t bad.

it’s no different than that pack of feral swine that put on their tacticool wardrobes and strutted around Lansing on multiple occasions. They want to assert their rights, but accept none of the responsibilities that come along with them. “Freedom” to them means “I can tell you ‘No,’ but you still have to help me if I screw up.”

you know, how a 3-year-old thinks.

I grew up in Midland with very liberal parents. They attended a church with many like-minded individuals. Their circle of friends included a great many people who are horrified by the behavior of the dam owner and the people you describe. Yet those people too are suffering, and maybe dying, today. Unfortunately, the flood isn’t good at picking only the people you think deserve to drown. So maybe dig deep for a little fucking empathy, and recognize these are real people you are wishing destruction on.

The Tittabawassee Watershed is huge! It touches the county next to me and I’m in the Grand River watershed. Not sure how Saginaw and Bay City downstream To Lake Huron are doing.

DeVos and Van Andel founders of Amway are from Holland Michigan near Lake Michigan. Now the lake levels are causing havoc along that shoreline and yes homeowners are are looking for government assistance to save their shorelines and their Lake Michigan views.

Holland and nearby communities are very conservative. Up until recently sales of alcohol were banned on Sunday and if you mowed your lawn on Sunday you’d get the stink eye from your churchy neighbors. You might still get it in Zeeland or Hudsonville.

Yeah… and so what?

Not everyone there is named “DeVos”.

Not everyone there is a “deep red” Republican or conservative.

The vast majority living there had zero power over the dam or its owners.

But hey, screw those people because of where they happen to live, right? :rolleyes:

The area affected by this disaster is huge. You may not care about all those people simply because they’re human beings, but I do.

The actual situation appears (unsurprisingly) to be a good deal more complicated than “evil greedy dam owners” and “short-sighted GOP voters”. Here’s an interesting video that discusses some of the issues.

Some of the points it makes:
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission declared the dam sub-standard in 2018, and pulled the permit of the owners to use it for electrical generation.

This made the state of Michigan the regulatory authority. They inspected the dam and deemed it in fair condition. Their primary concern was ensuring that lake levels behind the dam stayed high enough to support wildlife.

Lakeside property owners also wanted the levels high, so their docks would reach water.

The dam owner wanted to reduce the lake level, out of concern for potential damage (and presumably liability).

In early May the state won a court case that ruled the lake should be kept high - that the dam owner did not have the right to lower the lake level.