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Rick Brewer: After torrential rains caused Midland and Gladwin county dams to burst in 2020, the onset of rushing water created a 'vacuum effect' causing water in Wixom Lake to drain.
This draining included many creeks, canals and tributaries branching off the lake. One Gladwin County man, who has a home on one of these canals, says it dried up within eight and a half hours.
WCMU's Tina Sawyer recently visited with Jim Hall to recount how the storm impacted the people around Wixom Lake, and what recovery looks like five years later.
Jim Hall: This is a canal. This is called Nestor Creek. I call our place the thorn between the roses. There's retirees on either side, and unfortunately, when I say that we're the thorn between the roses, that's a 1966 double wide, it's our weekend getaway. In 2020, before the flood, water was up a foot or two below the dock.
Tina Sawyer: Now your place is up higher than your neighbors. So what happened after the flood then?
JH: Water was 23 feet up our lawn and I only know that cause there was a crud line when the water receded.
TS: What kinds of damage did you hear your neighbors had?
JH: Terrible. 5-6 houses down, they started having water in their basements, because they're closer. As you go down our street, that's where it started to get worse. There's a gal that we know. Her mother has a house down almost at the very end and they had four to five feet of water in the House and in the garage, there was a brand new boat in the garage and the boat was lifting up off of the trailer. They had to completely go down to studs, remediate, and then rebuild. So you know you're talking a woman that's 75 years old that had to put all that money back into her home.
TS: Did it reach your house?
JH: Fortunately, we're about 50 feet up to our front door, so we didn't have any issues. But as you go down the canal, you'll notice that the houses aren't on a grate any longer. They're almost level with their sea walls, so the further down you went, the more problems you had.
TS: You've never had any other issues with the dams?
JH: No. From '84 on, there was discussion about the lake levels were left up too long. Well, that doesn't matter... what really mattered was our berm that failed, never had pilings put in, it was never secured. It was built like it was in the in the 20th century, but early 20th century, and it was just a calamity waiting to happen. It was like pulling a plug in the bathtub. We just gradually lost water.
TS: Were there boats in the water?
JH: Oh yeah. So a lot of neighbors, next thing you know their pontoons are just sitting on the creek bed. Crane companies came through, and then they'd run their telescopic crane over the top of houses or where ever they needed to, and they would lift the boats out.
TS: That was something that they had to purchase themselves?
JH: Yeah, the homeowner had to pay for that because no one else was helping.
TS: Did they give you a timeline when things may come back?
JH: Yes, the latest timeline was, I believe next year, the 2 Northern Lakes, Secord and Small Water, were going to be online, and then I believe Sanford is supposed to be online and then Wixom Lake is 2 years out. It'll be, you know, 7 1/2 years that we've not had water.
TS: Did FEMA help?
JH: No one really helped us in the scheme of things from a government standpoint. FEMA is a wonderful organization, but they only have so much money, and the insurance companies were even worse because some people just don't know that they should have had flood insurance because they've never had it before, so why would you need it now? But we're not selling. I mean, my parents bought this in '84 and I'm 60 now, and I just want this to be a a legacy home.
TS: And so maybe in the next few years, it'll come back.
JH: Oh. Knock on wood, you know.
TS: So, are you gonna get flood insurance?
JH: No. If water gets inside, that's a hell of a flood.
