Dam failure has caused flooding in mid-Michigan. | stock photo
Dam failure has caused flooding in mid-Michigan. | stock photo
The state of Michigan sued the owner of two dams that purportedly contributed to last month’s flooding emergency in Midland County and surrounding areas.
The state filed a lawsuit against Boyce Hydro Power on June 9, claiming gross mismanagement.
Approximately 150 residences were destroyed, and thousands of mid-Michiganders were rendered homeless because of the May 19 flood.
The Grand Rapids Business Journal reported that the Edenville dam failed during a steady rain and caused the Sanford dam, 140 miles north of Detroit, to also fail.
Formerly authorized by the federal government to produce electricity, the Edenville dam lost its Federal Energy Regulatory Commission-issued license in 2018 and was placed under state supervision.
The FERC told the Grand Rapids Business Journal that the dam’s ability to prevent flooding during extreme conditions because of an inadequate spillway capacity was a major red flag.
Michigan hopes its suit would get Boyce Hydro to repair what it alleges was destruction to natural resources, clean up any hazardous sediments, restore wetlands and remit for killing fish.
The complaint asserts that the defendant decimated the ecosystems of Wixom Lake and Sanford Lake.
Attorney Lawrence Kogan, Boyce Hydro’s legal counsel, countered with an accusation that the state is trying to cover up its own inspection of the Edenville dam almost two years ago.
The state additionally accuses Boyce Hydro of failing to make repairs to some 60-foot-wide cracks on a portion of the dam that holds back the Tobacco River.
Mark Bone, chairman of the Midland County Board of Commissioners, told the Grand Rapids Business Journal that the flooding inflicted $175 million in damage to homes, businesses and nonprofits and $34 million to public property. Bone said among the damaged residences are those not located in a flood zone.
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