Flooding Impacts GT County & Beyond, With More Rain on Way

Heavy rains this week are having major impacts across northern Michigan, with more rain still in the forecast and a flood watch in effect through Wednesday. The Ticker spoke with multiple officials who were on the ground Monday addressing everything from a retention wall failure at the FishPass site to flooded roads and trails to potential dam breaches in outlying areas.

Many areas of northern Michigan had already received 1-2 inches+ of rain between late Saturday and Monday night, with another system moving in overnight expected to bring 1-2 inches more of rain by Tuesday morning – particularly in areas south of M-72 and along/south of M-55. That’s expected to “worsen ongoing flooding issues” across northern Michigan, according to the National Weather Service. The partially frozen ground is exacerbating issues since it’s not absorbing water, causing increased runoff.

In downtown Traverse City, a retaining wall failed along the alley off Union Street between Rotary Square and FishPass. According to Brandon Hubbard, public affairs specialist for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Detroit District, the wall along Lot K “gave way, causing a shift in soil and material along the embankment and allowing water to flow around the steel sheet pile from the downstream side into the cofferdam.”

Contractors “responded promptly to address the site conditions by bringing in material and blocking the flow of water into the cofferdam,” Hubbard says. “Flow has been cut off. The contractor is monitoring the site with the forecasted rain and has begun installing additional dewatering pumps to remove water from the cofferdam.” No one was injured in the incident, and no major equipment was damaged except for the loss of small tools.

City Director of Communications & Strategic Initiatives Colleen Paveglio says Lot K will remain closed until pumping is complete by the Army Corps. “The city will work with partners to have the site inspected for safety purposes,” she says. She notes that the city’s contracts with various project partners “address these types of incidents and contain provisions regarding insurance and other protections.” It’s not yet known about the long-term stability of the retaining wall/alley and whether that will impact future projects like a planned connection between Rotary Square and FishPass, according to Paveglio.

Leah McCallum, a spokesperson for the FishPass project, says crews are feeling optimistic about the site’s current stability – though conditions could change with future weather impacts. Some delays in the FishPass construction schedule are likely because of the need to drain and dry parts of the site before work continues, McCallum says.

The Grand Traverse County Road Commission was out addressing multiple flooded roadways across the area Monday. GTCRC Manager Dan Watkins spoke to The Ticker as he drove across the district assessing roads. South Airport Road flooded near Logan’s Landing, causing partial lane closures Monday. Watkins said trees came down near South Airport Road and got stuck in the culvert, exacerbating flooding. Crews were out using heavy machinery to clear that area and other spillways and culverts clogged with debris, Watkins says.

Flooding in the corridor also impacted Medalie Park, filling parts of the lawn and making a section of Boardman Lake Loop Trail impassable. Across the road, Garfield Township Manager Chris Barsheff says flooding around the South YMCA was so extensive that water filled not only the parking lots but the recreational courts, coming up to buildings and requiring the Y to shut down. The Y said it was “actively monitoring the situation and will reopen as soon as it is safe for our members and staff.”

Five Mile Road experienced water impacts near a construction site south of Prouty Road, with Watkins also seeing issues on Peninsula Drive and Swaney Road on Old Mission Peninsula and on the highway near Chums Corner. “It’s a combination of things,” he says. “We just had that huge snowstorm, and all that snow melted pretty quickly. So we’re already dealing with high water levels, and now the rain on top is compounding everything. We’re fighting it countywide.”

Other areas were in decent shape Monday but bracing for potential worsening conditions, since the inability for grounds to absorb more water means additional rain has nowhere to go. At The Village at Grand Traverse Commons, a site that experienced catastrophic flooding in 2020, Raymond Minervini Jr. says snow piles impeded some drainage over the weekend and had to be pumped around. However, The Village is otherwise stable right now. But ground saturation combined with further rounds of rain is what led to the flooding in 2020 and other years, so that’s what Minervini’s monitoring. “We’re keeping our fingers crossed,” he says.

That’s the same sentiment from City Director of Municipal Utilities Art Krueger. The city’s wastewater treatment plant was “running high” Monday but experiencing no issues, and the network of city pipes – including a site near the Traverse City Record-Eagle building that’s been prone to past flooding – was operating normally, according to Krueger. “We’re holding our own so far,” he says.

The Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) plans to forge ahead with two major projects this week, though soil conditions and/or heavy rains could change things, according to North Region Communications Specialist James Lake. An early start Friday on the Three Mile Road/US-31 intersection let crews get ahead of the rain and complete key pavement marking work, so construction is planned to continue this week. Lake also says MDOT plans to start detours in the Interlochen area today (Tuesday) for the nearly 8-mile US-31 rebuild happening there. “If it’s raining hard enough that it’s unsafe to work, they won’t, but light rain often leaves the opportunity to still perform some work,” Lake says. Tonya Wildfong of Team Elmer’s confirms local road projects they’re working on, like Three Mile and Monroe Street in the City of TC, “fared well in the recent rains.”

Other areas of northern Michigan are facing more dire impacts. A section of the famous Tunnel of Trees (M-119) collapsed in Emmet County due to a failed culvert, with no timeline yet set for repairs. The Michigan DNR said Monday that crews would be working through the night to increase the flow of water through the Cheboygan Lock and Dam Complex, which was nearing a potential failure point. MDOT closed the US-23 bascule bridge in Cheboygan, detouring traffic to the Lincoln Avenue bridge, with residents warned to pack go-bags in case of evacuation. The Pellston Regional Airport also experienced significant flooding on its runways, temporarily shuttering most flight operations. High flows through Mio Dam and Tippy Dam were also causing flash flooding in parts of several counties.

Antrim County was warning residents downstream of the Bellaire Dam to have an evacuation plan ready. The county’s emergency management department said that seepage had been detected at the base of the dam’s berm, which is expected to undergo emergency repairs Tuesday morning. Officials are “continuously” monitoring the dam to determine if sandbags need to be deployed to prevent water from overflowing. Residents are encouraged to sign up for dam alerts, with the sheriff’s office also expected to go door-to-door to homes on the Intermediate River if an evacuation becomes necessary.

Pictured (clockwise from left): Tunnel of Trees collapse, FishPass, Boardman Lake Loop Trail at Medalie Park, South YMCA, South Airport Road