Real life has been a little scary lately!

[madeleone]

Wow! 2020 has not been kind to Michigan. First we were hit hard by the corona virus, seventh highest in the country for confirmed cases and fourth highest in deaths. Now this week there have been devastating flooding in the tri-county area where I live.



We had heavy rains over last weekend that caused the rivers to rise to high levels. Our lowlands were flooded, but that isn't unusual here, it happens several time a year but usually drains fairly quickly, in fact the water down there is now gone except for a few low pockets. The river abuts our property but the we are built on a high ridge 30 ft above the lowland and about 200 yards from the river banks.

I noticed Tuesday morning that the water was up but didn't think much of it, as I said it happens often in times of heavy rains. I was planning on running into the grocery in town to get a few things we were out of but luckily I noticed some posts online that the bridge by downtown was closed due to high water. Yikes! Good thing I learned that first. Our town has bridges over the branches of three rivers so the combined run off was too much.

It was also too much for two dams just north of us on the Tittabawassee River in Edenville and Sanford, both failed. Edenville first sending the waters of Wixom Lake rushing downriver to Sanford, too much water for Sanford dam to contain and it also failed.

Luckily, as far as I know there were no deaths due to the flooding but the loss of homes, business and property is devastating. The entire town business area in Sanford was under water, the walls of some buildings collapsed. Reports are coming in that some homes had waters to the ceilings. Vehicles, boats and docks, even several bridges and roads were swept away, . It's unbelievable but true, like something out of a disaster movie. Speaking of disasters, Dow Chemical Company has it's headquarters in Midland and that complex was flooded. Nothing's really been said about that yet, but I have to wonder if there will be repercussions from that in the future.

The flooding in our town had nothing to do with the dam breaches that occurred, we are on a different river system. But this whole area is in a river valley all leading out to the Saginaw Bay and Lake Huron.


We were lucky as we were high and dry where we are now, but we know from experience what it is like for many of those folks because we lost our first house in town to floods in 1986.That's why we live where we do now, we opted to build on the ten acres out in the country that we owned instead of rebuilding in town. They called that one a hundred year flood, but there have been floods again in 2017 and now this year. It feels like those hundred year floods are getting closer and closer together.

My hubby said, “So far we've had plague, floods... what's next pestilence?” Damn! I hope this isn't the summer of the flesh eating locusts or giant mutant blood-sucking mosquitoes.(We do have a hell of a lot of mosquitoes here--we jokingly refer to them as our state bird. LOL!)

Comments

[enchanted-jae.livejournal.com]

I saw that flooding on the news. That was terrible. Good to know there were no deaths, and that you are safe from it.

[madeleone]

Yeah, for me it brings back a lot of bad memories from the flood of '86. But the fact that, as far as I know, there were no fatalities and they were able to evacuate over 10,000 people in a matter of hours was amazing. We are on high ground now, hubby jokes that if the water ever gets high enough to get over our ridge St. Charles will be under water.

[beffeysue.livejournal.com]

My hubby said, “So far we've had plague, floods... what's next pestilence?”

My lord, I hope not! I think this flood has been quite enough. I hope the communities effected will get all the help they need, but it sounds likely that it will be a while. Where do so many people go when their homes have been washed away?

*sending prayers*

[madeleone]

Back in '86 we got a low interest loan from FEMA to rebuild and a waiver (because they expect you to rebuild on the same location) so that we could build on our land outside of town which we already owned. I don't know what the situation will be for the people affected now but I hope they are able to get help. Home owner's insurance generally will not help unless you live in an area designated as a flood plain then you can buy flood insurance which is very expensive. Many of these areas affected were quite far from the lakes and rivers, so not in a flood plain.

Even though we're still under stay home, stay safe orders, people in the flooded areas were told to get out and go to friends and family if possible. If they had nowhere to go several high school gyms and community centers in neighboring communities were set up as shelters where they were told to try to observe the distancing protocols. I commend the governor for her swift action, the national guard was called in to assist, red cross was set up, and thousands of people were evacuated safely.

[beffeysue.livejournal.com]

I commend the governor for her swift action

I love your governor! She kicks arse!

[madeleone]

Indeed she does! I love her too.

[blueartemis07.livejournal.com]

Murder hornets. Although I hope they don't spread any more than they have.

[madeleone]

LOL! I thought of those murder hornets but didn't want to curse us by mentioning something that might be a real possibility. Lord, I hope not!

[mywitch.livejournal.com]

Oh I was wondering if those floods had affected your area. That's all we need, natural catastrophes in addition to this virus, ugh. Keep safe xo

[madeleone]

Thanks, hon. We are staying safe, but seeing pics and drone videos of the destruction are heart wrenching 'cause I know exactly what others are going through.

[mundungus42.livejournal.com]

I'm so relieved you're safe from the flooding, though sad you lost your first house. *huge hugs* I watched a video of the dam collapse and the pictures of the devastation are harrowing. Dear lord, I hadn't heard about the Dow chemical complex flooding. That is terrifying and I hope there aren't any additional catastrophes following the floods, because isn't that terrible enough?

As for pestilence, the influx of Japanese wasps (aka murder hornets) seem posed to keep things interesting, though yeah, midwestern biting insects are nothing to sneeze at. One of the most miraculous things to me about living in SoCal is that the arid climate means there are way fewer mosquitoes, and no horse/deer flies, no-see-ums, or chiggers, at least not in our neck of the woods (suburbs?). A friend in DC mentioned it's a 17 year cicada event this year, so that'l be entertaining and noisy!

[madeleone]

Thanks, sweetie. it's hard to believe it's been 36 years since we lost that house. It was the first home we owned, bought it in 1975 for five grand, believe it or not. LOL. It was a real fixer upper, we had to put on a new roof, siding, replace all the electrical, rebuild the screened in front porch, jack up the back end of the house--kitchen and bath--that were an add on from the original structure and had no actual foundation under them. My first three kids started their lives there although I'm not sure how much they remember of it since the oldest was only six at the time of the flood. This all brings back a lot of memories though.

Dow Chemical was actually founded in Midland, MI in the late 1800's. Their national headquarters are there and a huge industrial complex for manufacturing various 'stuff'. So yeah, the whole Dow thing really scares me and so far no one is really saying very much about it. I did read earlier some locals were voicing concern and saw pictures of many parts of the complex that were flooded including a couple of 'holding ponds' on the property--I don't know what was kept in there, but one was known as the 'brine pond', in any case whatever was in those was surely mixed with the flood waters that overtook them and that water moved on downstream. I don't like to think worse case scenario, but my mind always goes there. :(

[mundungus42.livejournal.com]

No doubt it's bringing the memories flooding back. <--- bad me. BAD ME.

Yeah. If we can learn anything from past environmental disasters, its that the companies involved aren't gonna be forthcoming about what happened. I sincerely hope local public health and the state EPA are on the ball about this, because heaven knows we're not getting any leadership on the federal level. But to be fair, it's such a huge affected area. It's a miracle nobody's been killed so far.

[mollywheezy.livejournal.com]

I'm so sorry to hear you've had so much going on where you live! *HUGE HUGS*

[madeleone]

Thanks so much!

[teddyradiator.livejournal.com]

It does feel like 2020 is the Year from Hell. Remember when all we were worried about was Romaine lettuce.

I hope things will be okay. It seems like we can't get a break this year. ♥

[madeleone]

Thanks, Teddy. It does seem like 2020 is one for the record books so far, and it's not even half over yet. I hope I'm wrong but I'm worried there's more yet to come. (Have I mentioned I'm sometimes a little paranoid?)

[teddyradiator.livejournal.com]

Sweetie, I think after what we've been through, it's only natural to think, "What's next?" We've had plague, floods, pestilence, murder hornets. It's no wonder we're just waiting for the next catastrophe.

[kellychambliss.livejournal.com]

Wow! I saw pictures of the failed dams -- scary stuff indeed. Glad to hear you're safe. So sorry for all the people who have lost homes and businesses.

[madeleone]

I know, I watched some of the videos and was torn by the total devastation. However, it is heartening to hear some of the stories of people coming together to help in the aftermath. The little town of Sanford had people just showing up to help businesses and residents with clean up. A donation center has been set up in the parking lot of the local bowling alley, and I've seen posts that people who were affected can come and pick up clothes, food, toiletries, even some furnishings. I've also seen posts of people offering to shelter pets or livestock for people who have been displaced. So there is a lot of good in the world and that is encouraging to see.