MIDLAND, MI — Midland County emergency officials hosted a press conference Wednesday evening, May 20, to provide updates on what has been called a 500-year flooding event that swept through the county and led to two dam failures on the Tittabawassee River.
Midland County Administrator/Controller Bridgette Gransden, Midland City Manager Brad Kaye and Mark Bone, chairman of the Midland County Board of Commissioners, provided updates and answered reporters’ questions during the 7:30 p.m. press conference, which was broadcast via Facebook Live. Replay it below or by visiting the City of Midland, Michigan – Municipal Government Facebook page.
“Though the water is receding, (in) many areas we still have damaged roads that are impassable and closed. There may be also gas and electric outages, which we need you to be careful for. We do not know who can access their homes safely at this time, so we ask you, use caution,” Bone said. “According to the National Weather Service, the good news appears that we’ve crested at 35.05 instead of the 38 feet we were predicting.”
Officials stressed that although the water is receding, it will take several days and residents should remain vigilant. It’s possible "we won’t even hit the 24-foot flood stage until the end of the weekend or later during Memorial Day,” Bone said.
“It’s essentially a mess out there and it isn’t safe to drive around barriers or travel on the roads that are deemed closed,” he added. “Everybody please stay safe and do your best out there and we’ll get through this.”
Kaye said things have changed quickly since officials last addressed reporters Wednesday afternoon, when they were predicting the river to crest at 38 feet at about 8 p.m. Soon after, an updated forecast moved the flood peak back by about three feet and about four to five hours.
“At this point in time, by all models, by all indications, at least, we’re cautiously optimistic that we’ve crested...we’ve kind of plateaued right now, but we will start the descent as water starts to recede,” Kaye said. “That’s great news for the county, for the city, certainly for the residents and business owners that are in the affected areas.”
Kaye also provided an update on the situation at Sanford Dam.
“We’ll continue to monitor and watch that, but, again, we’re cautiously optimistic that as the waters are dropping down that risk continues to decrease," he said.
Kaye said although the flooding happened quickly, it won’t be resolved quickly.
“This is not over, don’t consider it to be over yet,” he said. “We’re looking at probably four or five days at least before the water recedes just to get us back down close to normal river levels.”
Kaye asked motorists to heed road and bridge closures and discouraged homeowners from trying to rush back to their flooded homes because “they’re not safe to go back to.”
In addition to prompting road and bridge closures, flooding forced the closure of five of 43 pump stations, Kaye said.
“The areas that they affect within the city of Midland are largely the areas that were evacuated,” Kaye said. “If there’s no sewage systems, no pumping station capabilities, the facilities and the buildings right now are not sanitary to live in.”
The next phase is damage assessment, he said, and more information on that for homeowners and business owners is coming soon.
“This has been a really traumatic event for a lot of our residents in the Midland community and it’s not long after we had a really traumatic flooding event three years ago in 2017," Gransden said. “A lot of our folks in this community who had damage and loss have really just recovered and this is just going to have an impact not only on them financially, but emotionally, mentally.”
Gransden said although homes, buildings and infrastructure are important, they can be replaced.
“The most important thing always is people, so although this has been a really traumatic thing, we haven’t had any loss of life and we’re blessed in that aspect."
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