As of Wednesday evening the city of Lansing has operated under a state of emergency and many other Michigan communities are knee deep in rising waters.
This week’s rain, snow melt, and frozen ground have caused flooding in many communities from the south well into northern lower Michigan.
T.J. Turnage is a National Weather Service meteorologist in Grand Rapids. He said this is the second worst flood in Lansing history.
“We actually hit 14 point 12 back in 1985. We’ve already exceeded that. The record is well over 15 feet happening in 1975. We don’t expect that to happen at this point”.
Turnage said waters should begin to recede Friday in Lansing, and will likely cause severe flooding near Grand Rapids by Saturday.
Jeff Trombley is the Arenac County Drain Commissioner. He said ice clogged drains and culverts which caused back ups.
“I mean generally where it floods it floods year after year after year and some are worse than other. This was not a good one. The two inches of rain helped make this year a little bit more interesting”.
Trombley said waters have washed out roads and flooded some houses but damage totals have not yet been calculated.