Editor's note: This story was produced for the ear and designed to be heard. If you're able, WCMU encourages you to listen to the audio version of this story by clicking the LISTEN button above. This transcript was edited for clarity and length.
AJ Jones: The historic rainfall that led to the collapse of the Edenville and Sanford dams in May 2020 was not an isolated weather event. Watersheds and communities across mid-Michigan were also hit with widespread flooding and property damage. WCMU’s Rick Brewer brings us a story about one Arenac County community that’s nearing the end of its five-year journey to restore its 300-acre lake.
Rick Brewer: Alyce Oertel has lived on Forest Lake for 53 years.
Alyce Oertel: I was here before there was water in the lake.
RB: When Alice's kids were little, they used to slide down the dammed spillway to the point of splitting holes in their jeans. A spillway is essentially a chute that drains excess water from a dammed lake. But in late May 2020, the noise coming from the spillway was not the sounds of kids playing, but something Alyce said she had never heard before.
AO: You could hear the water going down the spillway, roar, just roaring.
RB: That's the sound of the Forest Lake dam pumping water onto the spillway that feeds the Rifle River at breakneck speed. According to data from the National Weather Service, Arenac County received nearly seven inches of rain in that 48 hour period.
Gene Ross: The spillway was disintegrating before our eyes.
RB: That's Jean Ross. He was on the board of the Forest Lake Property Owner's Association back in 2020. He says officials were worried about the dam breaking. Helicopters were circling the area and evacuation orders were given to people who lived downstream of the Rifle River.
GR: If we didn't do something to stop that water from eroding all the soil underneath the spillways, we were going to lose everything and that would have been catastrophe.
RB: The dam held. The property owner's association was able to get rocks placed along the spillway just in time, even though it had been reduced to rubble. It took about a week for the lake levels to go down after the storm. Vito Manzella is the current president of the Forest Lake Property Owner's Association. He says they kept the lake seven to eight feet below its normal level as they worked to figure out a plan. State environmental officials would not let them fill it back up.
Vito Manzella: Because it would create such a danger that if we ever did get a second rain like that, we would not be able to deliver the water downstream.
RB: They needed to build a new spillway, but no one in the property owner's association had ever taken on a project like this. One thing was clear though, they needed money. Ross says he sent out around 70 emails to start looking for grant funding.
GR: Low and behold, it was the first one with USDA. That was the first positive words, the first positive thing that happened after the disaster that we had.
RB: The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service ended up providing $8.5 million toward the construction of the new spillway.
Ray Daniels: We got a little backlash because now the government's involved, and there were some property owners that said 'we don't need the government involved in this project.' Well really they did.
RB: That's Ray Daniels. He's the head of the lake level authority board. The board was established through Arenac County because the USDA would not recognize the property owner's association as a source to provide matching funds for the grant. Two special assessments were also placed on about 2,000 parceled lots around the lake to pay for the restoration. The state environmental department, along with the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe, also chipped in funds. In total, they raised about $13,000,000 to rebuild the spillway and fix the dam. What they thought would take about two years ended up taking nearly five due to red tape and setbacks, but they're nearing the finish line.
VM: Oh, it's cold out there. All right, so this is the end of the spillway.
RB: That's Vito again, president of the property owner's association. He's giving me a tour of the new and improved spillway.
VM: The metal chutes, those are 10 feet tall.
RB: And those chutes lead water into the Rifle River. The metal chutes on the old spillway? Well, there weren't any. It used to be just 18 inches of concrete, helping guide the water. The difference between the old spillway and the new one is like comparing a flip phone to the latest iPhone. As water makes its way down, giant boulders align the stream into the rifle. Vito says the new spillway is designed to withstand a 500-year flood.
VM: Anytime you set a goal and achieve it's a good thing, right? People are in good spirits and we're all looking forward to getting this lake back.
RB: In April, they were able to raise the lake level for the first time in nearly five years. Vito estimates the lake will go back to its normal summer time level by Memorial Day weekend, just in time for the start of boating season. I'm Rick Brewer, WCMU news.
