[vash]

Originally Posted by CurtEgerer

When living in MI, I had 2 houses on the Tittabawassee River that would've been impacted by this. Had family evacuate last night. What's surprising is that the dam didn't fail years earlier. It was a well-known disaster waiting to happen. 90+ years old. Numerous structural defects. Did not meet Michigan dam safety standards. Was shut down by the Feds and license of owner pulled a few years back after a 15-year battle. Wixom Lake (man-made lake/reservoir impounded by the dam) was emptied a couple of years ago due to concerns. A group of property owners recently bought the dam (and 3 others on the same river) because they were tired of looking at an empty lake in front of their vacation homes. A $20 million dam repair plan was drawn up.

But here's the amazing part: the repair plan was scheduled to start in 2023, including $5 million from the State and the rest to be assessed to property owners. Sounds good so far. But then somehow, they get permission from the State to fill the lake back up last year with a completely unrepaired, structurally defective dam impounding the water Who approved this??

Feds had classified this as a High Hazard Dam due to the looming disaster for the City of Midland and Dow Chemical downstream. Wonder if anyone will be held accountable?

wow!!