Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Dear Washington Post, you are the darkness now.

The republican ‘Pastor’ of the House is an odious authoritarian little creep.

Celebrate the fucking wins.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

If you voted for Trump, you don’t get to speak about ethics, morals, or rule of law.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

Let’s bury these fuckers at the polls 2 years from now.

Elections aren’t won by handwringing, cowering, and/or bashing your own candidates.

They love authoritarianism, but only when they get to be the authoritarians.

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

There are a lot more evil idiots than evil geniuses.

My right to basic bodily autonomy is not on the table. that’s the new deal.

The arc of the moral universe doesn’t bend itself. it’s up to us.

We know you aren’t a Democrat but since you seem confused let me help you.

Conservatism: there are people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

Beware of advice from anyone for whom Democrats are “they” and not “we.”

Baby steps, because the Republican Party is full of angry babies.

No one could have predicted…

Cancel the cowardly WaPo and set up an equivalent monthly donation to ProPublica.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

The media handbook says “controversial” is the most negative description that can be used for a Republican.

Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

with the Kraken taking a plea, the Cheese stands alone.

He imagines himself as The Big Bad, Who Is Universally Feared… instead of The Big Jagoff, Who Is Universally Mocked.

You are here: Home / Climate Change / How about that weather? / Dams Break In Michigan

Dams Break In Michigan

by | 61 Comments

This post is in: 

This is real news, but I don’t know if it will break through the Trump zone flood of shit.

Residents are being told to evacuate.

h/t rikyrah

Reader Interactions

61Comments

  1. 1.

    Cheryl Rofer

  4. 4.

    John Cole

    My raid leader was an hour late tonight because he had to get his inlaws to his house, which is not in the danger area. He lives in Midland.

  6. 6.

    Kent

    And there was also a primary election in Oregon today that went down the memory hole. I guess “staying on the ballot to influence shit” isn’t working out too well for Bernie. Oregon is about the most Bernie-friendly place you can imagine, and by far the most Bernie-friendly state left to go.

    https://results.oregonvotes.gov/resultsSW.aspx?type=FED&map=CTY

    Early results (I’m too lazy to reformat the copy and paste)

    JOSEPH R BIDEN
    68.82%
    274,989
    BERNIE SANDERS
    Democrat
    18.32%
    73,196
    ELIZABETH WARREN
    Democrat
    9.27%
    37,038
    TULSI GABBARD
    Democrat
    1.64%
    6,545

  7. 7.

    Raoul

    Just saw this on twitter a few mins ago. Minnesota got about 2 – 2.5 inches of rain a day or so ago, I guess this system moved east and really dumped?

    (Not to get too far afield, but one of the risks of climate change is that weather systems may be more laden with moisture. I’ve also been seeing some very warm spring weather in the plains and up to the high country of CO. Oh, and that tropical storm forming two weeks before the start of the season. Huh.)

  9. 9.

    TaMara (HFG)

    I await the armed protesters, standing their ground against the raging floodwaters in defiance of the Gov.’s unconstitutional orders, impinging on their god-given rights to not stay safe. //

    Seriously, though, I hope everyone will be okay.

  10. 10.

    Kent

    Why are all these dams failing?   Deferred maintenance?  Too old?  Or are we experiencing some sort of 1000-year flood?   Even so, most dams have spillways and can release water if necessary to prevent failure.   Dams just don ‘t fail out of the blue, even in flood events.

    Edit:  Answered my own question

    In 2018, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission revoked the license of the company that operated the Edenville Dam due to non-compliance issues that included spillway capacity and the inability to pass the most severe flood reasonably possible in the area.

    The Edenville Dam, which was built in 1924, was rated in unsatisfactory condition in 2018 by the state. The Sanford Dam, which was built in 1925, received a fair condition rating.

    Both dams are in the process of being sold.

    There were 19 high hazard dams in unsatisfactory or poor condition in Michigan in 2018, ranking 20th among the 45 states and Puerto Rico for which The Associated Press obtained condition assessments.

    Source:  https://www.ourmidland.com/news/article/Evacuations-urged-in-parts-of-mid-Michigan-due-to-15279948.php

  12. 12.

    Raoul

    (I guess I just used up my last free article of the month from a former presidential candidate’s web site. Ah, well.) If you don’t mind Bloomberg, here’s details:

    Dow Activates Emergency Operations After Michigan Dams Break

    The Tittabawassee River that flows below those lakes, through Midland, crested at nearly 34 feet in a 1986 flood that saw Dow Chemical shutter nearly all of its local operations. Floodwaters in Midland are expected to reach nearly 4 feet higher than that on Wednesday.

    Other companies with operations at Dow’s Midland complex include DuPont and Corteva Agriscience.

  19. 19.

    cain

    @Felanius Kootea: I think it’s snark of the type that Trump only does ‘Quid Quo Pro” so that means for aid he will want something and that is likely her resignation. She’s not going to do it, and will definitely publicly show the letter if such thing to happen.

    But who knows what will happen now.. we are not living in normal times and none of the states can expect federal aid easily.

  20. 20.

    Ohio Mom

    Kent @10: I did not know dams were ever privately owned. I would have guessed the state or local jurisdiction, or maybe something like a water or port authority would be the owner/operator.

  21. 21.

    James E Powell

    @Kent:

    Why are all these dams failing?   Deferred maintenance?  Too old?

    I bet we will soon be hearing that the dams failed because of Democrats’ tax & spend policies, government over-regulation, and, somehow, black people. Count on it.

  22. 22.

    Kent

    @Ohio Mom:Kent @10: I did not know dams were ever privately owned. I would have guessed the state or local jurisdiction, or maybe something like a water or port authority would be the owner/operator.

    I don’t know anything about MI, but there are LOTs of privately owned dams here in the Pacific Northwest.  A lot of them were built a century ago for things like paper companies or big ranches.

    The really BIG dams were mostly built by the Federal Government in the 1930s.  But those are a tiny fraction of the total number of dams around the country, most of them small and old.

  23. 23.

    GregMulka

    • @Kent: It’s also the amount of rain they got. My in-laws live in Millington, MI, about 45 miles south of Midland in a straight line. They had seen six inches of rain in 18 hours and given the time of year there’s nowhere for it to go. But yes, MI, like most of the rest of the country, has been deferring maintenance on dams for too long.
  24. 24.

    No One of Consequence

    Lessee here…

    Floods…

    … check.

    Pestilence…

    … (African locusts) … check. (duh, missed Murder Hornets first go-round. Edited for obviousnessness.)

    Plague…

    … fuggin’ DUH! … check.

    Famine…

    … (news of almost certain famine affecting large swaths of the planet imminent) … check.

    War…

    … (depending upon size of conflict that you believe qualifies) … indeterminate.

    …

    Shit’s seemingly straight-up Biblical.

    Stay safe y’all as best you can. Please look after each other and wash your hands.

    If have it on good authority that Real Men not only eat quiche, but they wear Masks When Prudent and tell other Allegedly Real Men to Fuck Off.

    Peace,

    – NOoC

  25. 25.

    HumboldtBlue

    Maybe it’s divine retribution for the heathen godless courts of men to spurn the will of god. Locust plagues in Africa, massive cicada swarms in West By God West Virginia, plague, unrest, turmoil foretell of a cleansing of biblical proportions?

    U.S. federal prosecutors are seeking the return to Iraq of a roughly 3,500-year-old clay tablet purchased by the Hobby Lobby arts and crafts store chain for display in the Washington, D.C.-based Museum of the Bible. The cuneiform tablet is described as “stolen Iraqi property” in a civil complaint filed Monday.

    The complaint details part of the journey of this fragment of the oldest known creation tale — from a palace library in ancient Mesopotamia to its present location in a Department of Homeland Security warehouse in Queens, New York.

    It alleges that a major international auction house, unnamed in the complaint, obscured the provenance of the tablet, known as the Gilgamesh Dream Tablet, when it sold the tablet to Hobby Lobby in 2014.

  26. 26.

    Balconesfault

    @John Revolta: oh, it is a massive chemical complex. One of the largest in the country, situated there because there’s a giant salt dome underneath it that they could use for their chlorine-based products. I did work back there in the 80s, one time a tornado was blowing in on the plant and happen to hopscotch, which the plant people said happens because there’s such a thermal blanket. Obviously that wont help much for flooding.

    interestingly, during the same EPA sampling project I was down at Freeport TX, at Dows second largest chemical plant in North America, when a huge tropical storm came in and brought up all the water levels in the area. operations had to be shut down for a few days because they couldn’t discharge, since all of their water treatment processes are pretty much at ground level.

    the biggest danger here comes in with tank farms, since when flood levels come up too much they’ll go right over the top of secondary containment barriers and if tanks arent completely full they can get lifted by the flood waters and overturned. That’s when you can have some really nasty spills.

  27. 27.

    Alex

    Midland County had 76 reported cases of coronavirus as of today. Given what we know about testing availability, this probably means they had 700-1000 infections. It’s really good this isn’t happening in a county with higher prevalence, but having people scatter across the state and gather in shelters will almost inevitably lead to more cases.

    Of course all the Trumpsters are already making jokes about how the governor can’t make up her mind— is it stay home or mandatory evacuation? They should be glad she has the authority to save people. If the Republican majority in the Legislature prevails in the case heard last week, people would be waiting weeks or months for them to pass laws as emergency response.

  30. 30.

    prostratedragon

    @Raoul:
    That’s probably the same weather system. Chicago area got around 5 in the last 3 days, most of it during one 24-hour period. Not unprecedented, but always makes one wonder. The Deep Tunnel sewer subsystem was overwhelmed and backflowed into the Lake, which also is unusual though does happen, and a lot of local broadcasting was knocked out by a related power failure.

    However, no large dams around here, so we’ve been spared that compounded disaster.

  31. 31.

    Kattails

    @James E Powell : …”soon be hearing that the dams failed because Democrats/blacks/gayz” which is why Whitmer should resign, it’s clearly her fault, Q.E.D., ipso facto, and walla-walla bing bang.

    Irony is now live-streaming– Someone’s Twitter joke today: a black and yellow sign “WARNING BRIDGE WASHED OUT Unless you feel this is an attempt to deprive you of your liberty then keep driving”

    Sadly, there’s enough shit going on, nobody needs any extra Biblical problems. I’m sure Whitmer will handle it extremely well, but I can’t imagine how she’s getting any sleep, between viruses and RWNJs and now this. I hope people in the path are safe, not sure of the geology/contour map of the area. By that I mean, open and flat, water can spread and slow down, or narrow, hilly, water stays local but also has a lot more force behind it. If I recollect rightly, a cubic yard of water weighs three quarters of a ton, which is why 18″ of rapidly moving water can pick up a car that’s trying to move perpendicular to it. NEVER try to drive through/across a flooded area.

    I’m whipped, off to bed.

  34. 34.

    NotMax

    @Alex

    Partially so. Originally part of a state canal project, as the heyday of canals passed it eventually moved first into corporate (railroad) ownership and later on into private ownership who then modified it (in negative ways) to accommodate a resort for the elite.

  35. 35.

    Bill

    @Raoul: Storms always pick up moisture going over Lake Michigan.  Living in Milwaukee in the winter, we see the moisture condense into clouds over the lake.  We call it Mt. Michigan.

  36. 36.

    CaseyL

    Good lord.  One disaster after another.  Governor Whitmore must have nerves of steel.

    @Kent: I didn’t know there were a lot of privately-owned dams here in the PNW.   I know there’s a years-long, ongoing project to get rid of some of them, to restore salmon runs, but so far the only one that’s been removed was the Elwah.

  39. 39.

    Fair Economist

    @HumboldtBlue: cites

    This deluge was caused by a slow-moving area of low-pressure over the Midwest the past few days, cut off from the jet stream and unable to move, trapping copious moisture into the Great Lakes and Ohio Valley, according to weather.com senior meteorologist Jonathan Erdman. This low will soak parts of the Ohio Valley and Southeast the next several days.

    That’s climate change. Climate change has slowed the jet stream and made it more irregular. This kind of thing used to be super rare. Similar wonky jet stream events caused Hurricane Sandy and Harvey.

  42. 42.

    frosty

    @Served: Lake Ontario and the St Lawrence River are high. I have a cousin who has a place in the Thousand Islands. Two months ago the docks at the boathouses were two feet underwater.

  44. 44.

    frosty

    @HumboldtBlue:

    Maybe it’s divine retribution for the heathen godless courts of men to spurn the will of god. Locust plagues in Africa, massive cicada swarms in West By God West Virginia, plague, unrest, turmoil foretell of a cleansing of biblical proportions?

    I think you missed dogs and cats living together.

  46. 46.

    Mai naem mobile

    I feel like I’m in this over the top action adventure/disaster/horror epic movie which is an amalgamation of Outbreak/Idiocracy/Lost in America/Die Hard with the ticking time bomb gimmick being that nothing earth ending happens before Donny is kicked off the stage. It would be a dark comedy except it’s too realistic currently.

  49. 49.

    Sab

    @Ohio Mom: Columbus Dispatch did a story in November about Ohio dams. There are more than 1400 dams in Ohio, and 450 are at high risk. I don’t know how many are privately owned.

  50. 50.

    Martin

    Basically all earthen dams are going to fail if you don’t maintain them. That’s sort of the trade-off, they’re cheap to build but you gotta maintain them. Part of that is having enough additional infrastructure to ensure that they never overtop, because they will pretty much always fail catastrophically should they overtop.

  51. 51.

    Sloane Ranger

    How long before the usual suspects start blaming the Governor’s lockdown order for the failures? As in essential maintenance was not carried out because the workers were forced to stay home?

    I hope the evacuation goes smoothly and people are safe but this will lead to an increased risk of COVID-19 spread,  frying pan, fire.

  53. 53.

    Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism

    @Ivan X: I don’t know for certain, but I’ll wager that he’s helped build models for a variety of purposes. You have to understand what you’re modeling to some minimum degree before you can build one. It’s a great place to be if you’re an Elephant’s Child.

  55. 55.

    Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism

    @patrick II: Are you saying that Jared is Martin’s “Sir Percy Blakeney” persona? That “idiot who only speaks in buzzwords” is the modern version of a fop?

    You’re generating plot bunnies here….

  56. 56.

    satby

    I mentioned yesterday that the same rain system was causing the St. Joe river to start flooding here in South Bend, downtown along the river parkway. That same river swings north here in South Bend and cuts through lower western Michigan before it reaches it’s end in Lake Michigan. Expect to here about more flooding in Michigan and Indiana. The Riverwalk in downtown Chicago was underwater yesterday, too. Lotta water around here.

  57. 57.

    evodevo

    Here in Ky they are predicting the last few days rain is gonna give us a repeat of the Flood of 1997, which was catastrophic for several small towns on the Licking River…we were looking at it yesterday as we drove to Maysville…NOT good…and now it looks like the low is cycling around for yet another hit to Cincinnati….the  Miami River will not be happy…

  58. 58.

    Miss Bianca

    @Served: Meanwhile we are dry as a bone out here in Rockies. Damn. Wish for all our sakes we could get some of that rain diverted our direction!

  61. 61.

    J R in WV

    @John Revolta:

    They wouldn’t put plants in a flood zone would they???

    We have one big chemical plant on an island in the Kanawha River, was Union Carbide — back in the day carbide was used in helmet lamps for underground mining, when water is added it generated Acetylene gas which provides a bright white light. Of course, it was a great source of ignition of coal dust or methane.

    Of course the plant is also on both sides of the river now, and owned by Dow and other firms now that Union Carbide is extinct, finally. A truly evil corporation that cares not for the lives of people at all. Worships money and nothing else.

Comments are closed.