Rainfall across Northern Michigan heightens concerns of river flooding, dam overflows

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 to help push water toward Lake Huron, Michigan Department of Natural Resources public information officer Kathleen Lavey told The Associated Press.

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.”

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.

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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The story has been corrected to remove DTE Energy as the public utility working with the DNR at the Cheboygan Dam.