- At a Tuesday town hall, officials say say they expect ‘some topping’ in Cheboygan but hope to avoid mass flooding
- Residents near Bellaire Dam in Antrim County told to prepare to evacuate
- Half of the Lower Peninsula and all of the Upper Peninsula is under a flood watch
Last updated: Wednesday, April 14 at 8 a.m. This post will be updated with the latest news about the Cheboygan dam and flooding across northern Michigan.
CHEBOYGAN — The water behind the Cheboygan Dam fell by nearly an inch overnight and is now more than 8 inches from the top of the dam.
With more rain in the forecast and warming temperatures melting more snow, the threat has not yet passed.
But the falling water levels are among the first good news for Cheboygan since Gov. Gretchen Whitmer declared a state of emergency there over the weekend.
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Tuesday, April 14 at 8:51 p.m.: Six other dams at risk
CHEBOYGAN — In addition to the Cheboygan Dam, state engineers are monitoring at least a half-dozen other dams as waters rise across northern Michigan, the Michigan State Police said.
Buck’s Pond Dam, a small dam in Alcona County, failed Monday night, the water flowing into Hubbard Lake. The roadway over the dam was damaged but officials expect no other safety issues.
State engineers are also monitoring these dams:
- Upper Hiawatha Dam in Montmorency County
- Hillman Dam in Montmorency County
- Homestead Dam in Benzie County
- Union Street Dam in Grand Traverse County
- Rugg Pond Dam in Kalkaska
In Cheboygan, a section of the city was evacuated following a levee breach in the Little Black River Watershed, separate from rising waters behind the Cheboygan Dam.
At a town hall meeting tonight, Michigan Department of Natural Resources Senior Engineer Michelle Crook said officials expect “some topping” over the Cheboygan Dam but hope they can prevent an outright failure.
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Tuesday, April 14: Officials warn residents near Bellaire Dam to evacuate
Officials are warning residents who live downstream of the Bellaire Dam in Antrim County to pack in case of an evacuation.
The water was within a foot of the top of the dam as of this evening, according to a Facebook post late Tuesday afternoon from Antrim County Emergency Management.
Officials remain on scene monitoring the water levels and will issue an evacuation alert via the RAVE automatic messaging system and through the media.
***
Tuesday, April 14 at 4:30 p.m.: Life goes on in Cheboygan
CHEBOYGAN — Downstream of a dam state officials worry could fail, some residents and business owners are getting ready for the worst, while others shrug off the potential disaster.
The Cheboygan River behind the Cheboygan Dam and Lock Complex was just over 7 inches below the top of the dam as of this afternoon.
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That’s worse than Monday, even though crews removed gates on the dam to increase flow and used sandbags and pumps to divert water.
Workers continued trying to restart an inactive hydropower plant adjacent to the dam that would increase the water flow by 30%.
Amid the scramble, life mostly went on. Several motorists pulled over to watch the high waters, but businesses remained open and traffic was heavy downtown.
At the Cheboygan Title Agency on Main Street just a few blocks from the dam, employees piled sandbags along entrances and moved records and chairs atop tables. Water had already crept into the basement.
“We’re trying to be proactive instead of reactive,” said Jennifer Thornton, the firm’s general manager. “It isn’t going to hurt anything by using sandbags.”
Thornton said she’s frustrated by what she considers a lack of information if the dam fails.
“Even if they gave us a guess of the water surge,” she said. “Is it gonna be an inch or 12 feet?”
Nearby, Doug Sanborn, a senior manager at BKC Insurance, said he’s happy with communications from emergency officials. The company plans to work remotely in case of an evacuation.
“There are things you can control and things you can’t, so the best thing you can do is take care of your team,” Sanborn said.
Jeff Cutter, the owner of Cheboygan Coffee Roasters, placed sandbags around an old coal chute outside his business and planned to caulk around it to try to prevent water from getting into the basement. He had no sandbags around the entrances to the building and said he expected a slow, steady flow — not a deluge — if the water topped the dam.
Cutter said he was more concerned about misinformation spreading on social media.
“Everybody’s making AI videos of the dam coming down,” he said. “It’s Chicken Little … I think you have to take things in perspective and not listen to all the hype.”
At Creation Station just up Main Street from the coffee shop, employee Grace Moraru said the business was “still kind of in the ‘waiting to see what happens’ stage.” No sandbags had been placed there.
“People who don’t live here have been a little more panicked,” she said. “From their point of view, we’re already underwater.”
Sharin Clairmont, 90, has lived just a stone’s throw away from the dam since 1966. She said she had no concerns about a dam failure, assured the high banks alongside the river would protect her and her home.
“I’m not going anywhere,” she said.
***
Tuesday, April 14 at 2:50 p.m.: Alpena begins evacuations
Alpena officials say they have begun some targeted evacuations of residents stranded by rising floodwaters, with at least a dozen roads unpassable, according to the Alpena News.
City Manager Rachel Smolinski issued a statement on Tuesday saying that wastewater systems are above capacity and asking residents to avoid unnecessary flooding.
“While the system remains functional, all pipes are full, and wastewater is moving very slowly through the system,” the statement read. “There is currently no additional capacity available, and continued high usage may lead to backups or service disruptions. If you have water in your basement any additional usage of water in your home will only add to this flooding issue in your basement.”
The city is also distributing sandbags to residents.
Meanwhile, Cheboygan County Sheriff Todd Ross is advising residents to avoid unnecessary travel, as waters rise behind the Cheboygan dam and northern Michigan is experiencing sporadic flooding.
***
Tuesday, April 14 at 9 a.m.: Waters rise behind Cheboygan Dam
The water behind the Cheboygan Dam is now fewer than 8 inches from the top of the dam and continuing to rise, according to the state.
The water rose 6 inches Monday despite crews using cranes to pull the gates from the dam and adding additional pumps to divert water.
Crews also brought in industrial wire from Illinois to try to get a hydroelectric power plant online, which would increase the water’s flow by 30%.
Meanwhile, the Cheboygan County Sheriff’s Office urged residents to use caution on the roadways because many roadways are flooded and water may have compromised the ground beneath the roadway.
Severe thunderstorms overnight made the situation worse. All of the northern Lower Peninsula and Upper Peninsula is under a flood watch.
Among other issues:
- A retaining wall failed in downtown Traverse City, according to the Traverse Ticker.
- Antrim County officials say sandbags will be placed this afternoon at the berm of the Bellaire Dam, where waters rose 6 inches overnight. Officials are warning nearby residents to prepare to evacuate as the waters are 18 inches from the top of the dam.
- Michigan Public reports flood warnings are also in effect for the Au Sable and Manistee rivers in the northern Lower Peninsula and Sturgeon River in the Upper Peninsula.
- Rain is forecast most days through Sunday in northern Michigan.
***
Monday, April 13 at 3 p.m.: Another Michigan dam in danger of being topped
A second Michigan dam is in danger of being topped, police say.
Water levels are extremely high at the Bellaire Dam in Antrim County, and the county Sheriff’s Office has urged residents living nearby to sign up for official alerts in case evacuation becomes necessary.
The situation is being monitored by the county’s operator of dams, and officials stressed that the notice was precautionary.
The 18-foot-high dam with a 9-foot head, built in 1906, is considered “high hazard,” meaning it could cause significant damage or kill people if it failed.
***
April 13, noon: Waters near top of Cheboygan dam
Crews were working Monday to restore power to a closed hydroelectric station in northern Michigan as heavy rain threatens to cause a dam to overflow.
More pumps also are being added to the Cheboygan Dam and Lock Complex to help push water toward Lake Huron, Michigan Department of Natural Resources public information officer Kathleen Lavey told The Associated Press.
If successful, the operation could increase river flows through the complex by as much as 30%, potentially stopping or reversing the rise in water levels behind the dam.
“There are other options being considered if overtopping becomes inevitable, even with the increased flow capacity,” state dam safety chief Luke Trumble told Bridge Michigan. “But we’re all hopeful that the increased flow capacity will be enough.”
It’s an operation complicated by the shared ownership of the dam complex: The Michigan Department of Natural Resources owns the dam itself, while private company Hom Paper XI LLC owns the adjacent powerhouse that once provided electricity to a now-shuttered paper factory.
The powerhouse has been offline for years following a 2023 fire and subsequent legal and regulatory wrangling. Officials with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which regulates the dam complex, have repeatedly ordered Hom Paper to restore powerhouse operations, but the company has requested multiple extensions as it looks to sell the facility to a company called HydroMine Cheboygan LLC.
Long term, Trumble said officials must contend with the century-old dam’s inability to meet modern flood control standards — with or without the powerhouse. It’s a project likely to cost millions.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission requires dams under its jurisdiction to pass 100% of the so-called “probable maximum flood” in the surrounding area. Trumble said the Cheboygan complex misses the mark.
“After the dust settles, assuming the dam survives, then we need to figure this out,” he said. “When can spillway capacity upgrades be achieved?”
The Cheboygan County sheriff’s office said Monday on its Facebook page that people between the dam and Lake Huron should prepare a “go-bag” containing medications, documents and other important items, monitor official updates and “be ready to act.”
This map from the Michigan State Police shows the current projected areas of potential flooding. The purple area is an active work zone and is closed to the public, while the green area is the target area for potential flooding. (Courtesy of the Michigan State Police)
Like the Edenville dam near Midland, which forced the evacuation of thousands when it failed during heavy spring rains in 2020, the Cheboygan dam is “high hazard,” meaning it could inflict widespread damage and possibly kill people if it failed.
But at 27 feet high with just 16 feet of headspace, the dam is far smaller than the 57-foot-high Edenville and the downstream river is more channelized — two factors that would limit damage to a far smaller geographical area in downtown Cheboygan.
But a failure could cause widespread and long-lasting environmental and recreational damage. The Cheboygan dam complex controls water levels in the Inland Waterway, a 40-mile-long chain of rivers and lakes that drains through teh Cheboygan River.
Losing the dam would lower water levels in Mullet and Burt lakes by several feet, Trumble said.
Officials across Michigan’s northern Lower Peninsula and in the Upper Peninsula are concerned about flooding as rain over the weekend threatens to continue through much of this week.
Tunnel of Trees road washed out
Flooding washed out a section of the famed Tunnel of Trees roadway near Harbor Springs overnight Sunday after a culvert failed.
The washout left a gaping hole in M-119 between Good Hart and Cross Village, according to media reports. State roads crews are reviewing the damage and developing a repair plan, but no timeline for when the road might reopen has been set, according to UpNorthLive.
Pellston airport closed
Airlines canceled flights at Pellston Regional Airportbecause there was too much water on the runway, the airport said on its Facebook page.
Flights were canceled Sunday and Monday.
State of emergency declared
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer declared a state of emergency Friday at the Cheboygan Lock and Dam Complex as record snowfall in March and the recent rain have elevated water levels. No evacuations have been reported.
“We had crews in place overnight in order to increase the flow of water through the complex,” Lavey said Monday. “We’re bringing a giant crane in and removing the gates of the dam. Even when the dam is open it helps the water flow when you take them off.”
DNR crews, a utility provider and others also are using industrial wire trucked in from Illinois to help restart the shuttered hydroelectric station.
The station has been down since 2023.
“It will be put back in service to just move water through the dam,” Lavey said. “We have five really big pumps pumping from behind the dam to the front of the dam. We’re working really hard to try and get this done as soon as possible.”
A public meeting is planned for Tuesday to update residents and business owners on the situation, she added.
A stalled weather front that’s “kind of draped over the Great Lakes” is responsible for the rain, especially over Northern Michigan, National Weather Service meteorologist Trent Frey said.
A southwest flow across the United States is going to direct warm and moist air through the front, he added.
“A flood watch is in effect for pretty much all of Northern Michigan,” Frey said.
Ann Kessler’s Secrets on Main bed and breakfast is across the street from the Cheboygan River. The bed and breakfast she bought in 2024 is seasonal, closed now until it opens in June.
“I’ve just been kind of watching it remotely,” says Kessler, 58, who lives in Oregon during the winter months. “I have a friend who went over to check on everything. She’s going to put anything that’s in our yard in our garage so if water goes through there it doesn’t add to the debris that’s floating around.”
Kessler said she worries about homes directly on the river.
“We’re just keeping our fingers crossed that (if it floods) it doesn’t come up so high,” she said.
Flood warnings also are in effect for the Cheboygan River Basin until Sunday, the Au Sable River and the Manistee River.
Flood gates also have been opened at the Mio Dam along the Au Sable River in the northeastern Lower Peninsula and the Tippy Dam on the Manistee River in western Michigan, Frey said.
There also are flooding concerns along the Sturgeon River in Houghton County in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. In addition to the rain, some areas still have about 15 to 30 inches (38 to 76 centimeters) of snow on the ground, said Chris Van Arsdale, emergency management coordinator for Houghton and Keweenaw counties.
“We’re definitely monitoring,” Van Arsdale said. “We’re still within where we normally would be this of year. All of our public works agencies are watching culverts to see if they’re plugged or not.”
Officials are getting dam readings and looking at river gauges to monitor water levels.
“They’re getting up, but we get up there every spring,” Van Arsdale said.
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