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Flooding Subsides Up North

Tom Carr

  The Boardman River and the upper Manistee have crested and are expected to fall slowly overnight. Both rivers reached record high levels Tuesday, according to the National Weather Service office in Gaylord.

Wexford County's state of emergency continued Tuesday, even as spring flooding in the region slowed. The county's worst-hit area is along the Manistee, north of Mesick.

Wexford Lieutenant Richard Denison says police in dry suits waded up to doorsteps of flooded homes to make sure nobody was stranded.

"My estimate right now is up to 10 [homes are] underwater right now,” Denison said Tuesday afternoon. “But there are several homes in the immediate area that could be affected if it continues rising."

Propane tanks and cars caught in the flood could create a pollution problem. But for now, police are busy making sure nobody is in immediate danger before addressing those concerns.

The upper Manistee River rose to more than 16 feet higher than normal. The National Weather Service expects water levels to decline on the upper Manistee and Boardman River overnight and Wednesday.

The lower parts of the Manistee and the Pere Marquette could continue to rise into Wednesday.

An earthen dam in Roscommon County has failed, just upstream from U.S. Highway 127. NWS meteorologist Keith Berger says there is a 65-acre pond behind the dam and water downstream came within a few inches of the bridge over 127 on Tuesday afternoon.

The dam on Wolf Creek is owned by the State of Michigan. It failed three years ago, and the work repairing it was just completed last year.

Peter Payette is the Executive Director of Interlochen Public Radio.