Multiple Dam Failures, My City is Flooding

So, as if 2020 couldn't be any crummier... we ended up having a real disaster in my hometown of Midland, Michigan yesterday and today.

We sustained a big rain storm on Monday, dropping between 3-5 inches of rain in the northern portion of our state. The regular flooding sucks, but the issue is that we have a bunch of rivers and lakes that feed Lake Huron, which is one of the Great Lakes. We have a series of dams and dikes to control this water, but two of our dams failed due to the rainfall, and we're seeing the flooding come pouring in.

Fortunately for me, we live on the highest part of town, so my house is safe. For thousands of others though, it's not good. I drove by the high school today and saw a bunch of people being housed there as a temporary shelter. It's concerning there as we're still experiencing Covid-19 cases, so I'm sure our numbers will spike from having hundreds of people stuck in a small room for lengthy periods of time.

Our sewage is also another issue, as it appears the system could potentially fail due to the huge flow of water. Also, Dow Chemical is headquartered in Midland and we have a huge chemical plant right on the river. With the river set to crest at 4 feet over the previous record, there's a possibility some bad stuff could happen at the Dow plants.

Pretty crazy stuff. I'm a licensed drone pilot so I've been getting contacted already to do some insurance flights. I have to wait until the roads at least re-open so I can get myself close enough to even film anything. There's also a lot of helicopter traffic, as I'm sure there's media and government agencies trying to monitor the situation.

CNN coverage of the flood

Photos