Two dams in Michigan were breached on Tuesday after days of heavy rainfall, forcing the evacuation of thousands of residents and bringing what officials warned would be life-threatening flooding to homes and businesses.
The failures of the Edenville Dam and the Sanford Dam, about 140 miles northwest of Detroit, led the National Weather Service to issue a flash flood warning for areas near the Tittabawassee River, with downstream effects expected from Midland to Saginaw overnight. Residents in nearby towns, including Edenville, Sanford and Midland, were evacuated.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said at a news conference on Tuesday that downtown Midland, with a population of more than 41,000, could be under nine feet of water by Wednesday morning.
While imploring residents to take the threat seriously and evacuate immediately, Ms. Whitmer said they should continue to observe precautions related to the coronavirus, including wearing masks and maintaining social distancing. She acknowledged that distancing would be difficult in shelters that had been set up in the area.
“To go through this in the midst of a global pandemic is almost unthinkable,” she said. “But we are here, and to the best of our ability we are going to navigate this together.”
It was the second time in 24 hours that residents were told to evacuate. Four to seven inches of rain drenched the area on Sunday and Monday, according to the National Weather Service.
The Tittabawassee River was expected to crest at 38 feet by 8 a.m. Wednesday, more than four feet higher than its record of 34 feet set in 1986. The flood stage is at 24 feet.
Dow Chemical Company, based in Midland, has activated its emergency operations center and will be adjusting operations, Rachelle Schikorra, a spokeswoman, told The Associated Press.
Ms. Whitmer said on Tuesday night that thousands of people still needed to evacuate and that the scale of the disaster would not be known until late Wednesday morning.
“This is unlike anything we’ve ever seen before,” she said. “I feel like I’ve said that a lot over the last number of weeks. But this truly is a historic event that is playing out in the midst of another historic event.”
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May 20, 2020 at 02:17PM
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Michigan Dams Break, Forcing Thousands to Evacuate - The New York Times
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