[Rhodes22-list] Flooding Due To Dam Failure

[Mark West]

Sorry Rodger for the problems your having and headaches to come . We lost pier boat slip and 100 ft bulkhead but the boat house with lift was ok. piers and docks in bad shape down river blew/washed up river to pile up against ours what a mess trees down.  This was during Hurricane Isabel water was in foundation didn't reach any wood joist. our prayers and thoughts Mark

-----Original Message-----
From: ROGER PIHLAJA <Roger_Pihlaja at msn.com>
To: The Rhodes 22 Email List <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
Sent: Wed, May 20, 2020 5:34 am
Subject: [Rhodes22-list] Flooding Due To Dam Failure

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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