EDENVILLE TWP, MI — With the failure of the Edenville Dam earlier this week, Wixom Lake has been left a shadow of its former self. The question now is, can the lake itself be salvaged?
“It’s basically back down to the old river channel now,” Edenville Township Supervisor Craig Gosen said of the lake’s current water level. The lake typically had a shoreline of about 84 miles and maximum depth of about 40 feet, before days of heavy rain descended earlier this week.
Wixom Lake was formed in 1925 with the construction of the Edenville Dam, a 4.8 megawatt, 6,600-foot earth-gravity dam that impounded both the Tittabawasee River and its tributary, the Tobacco River.
Since the Tuesday, May 19, failure of the dam, Wixom Lake’s water has been significantly reduced. Its lowered waters have developed into a muddy, flowing river, bordered by muck and sand.
Boat lifts behind lakefront homes stand free, the water they had stood in now yards away, roiling at the bottom of steep inclines like a stream through a canyon.
Covered in zebra mussels, a mammoth chunk of derelict machinery juts up like a corroded statue, exposed from the newly receded waters that had concealed it for nearly a century.
An old dredge machine has been uncovered after water washed out due to the failure of the Edenville Dam on Wednesday, May 20, 2020 in Edenville Township north of Midland. (Jake May | MLive.com)The Flint Journal, MLive.com
“That was an original steam shovel used in the original construction in the ‘20s,” said Larry Woodard, president of the Wixom Lake Association who has a house on the lake in Gladwin County’s Billings Township. “For some reason, it was just left there.”
The Wixom Lake Association has about 1,900 members, Woodard said.
“We’re not doing anything right at the moment,” Woodard said of the association’s activities since the dam collapse. Prior to that, its board members had to cancel two meetings due to the COVID-19-based no-contact orders. It will probably be several weeks before another meeting can be held, Woodard said.
Since the dam failed, more problems are surfacing, he added.
“Now we got people running quads and side-by-sides on the lakebed getting stuck and needing to be rescued,” Woodard said, frustration evident in his voice. “It’s a mess. We’re working now, trying to get the marinas to close their docks, but there are a lot of private docks and ramps, too. They don’t realize, there’s places out there that are mucky and they’re getting in there and getting hung up.”
Gosen said it is not yet known exactly how many homes have been affected by the disaster.
“We don’t have a count yet,” he said. “They’re in the process now of doing damage assessments, but it’s hundreds. There are a lot of homes in Edenville. There’s complete devastation in some areas. Some folks that were higher up didn’t sustain any damage, but anybody lower to water levels suffered a lot of damage.”
Woodard’s house, located about a mile and a half north of the dam, was itself flooded by 6 to 8 inches of water.
“I was there when the dam breached and it only took less than two hours for the lake to be gone,” Woodard said. “I’m one of the lucky ones. I’ve got neighbors to the south of me that had 5 feet of water in their house.”
Woodard has since had a restoration company at his residence, taking out flooring and carpeting.
“They’re now attempting to dry the house out, assessing the drywall damage, spraying for mold, mildew, and odors, that type of thing.”
Beyond the personal havoc wreaked on individuals’ lives, the economic impact is staggering to contemplate. Property values are certainly to suffer financial impact, Gosen said, as assessments around Wixom Lake are typically higher compared to other properties.
“It will have an impact not only on those on the lake but on everyone in the area who depends on that property tax revenue,” Gosen said. “The county, the schools… There’s an awful lot depending on that assessed value.”
Woodard seconded Gosen’s sentiments.
“I’ve gotten a lot of phone calls,” Woodard said. “People are wondering what’s gonna happen. My understanding is in order to get your assessment lowered, it’s a one-year process and it depends on comparables in your neighborhood. Whose gonna buy a place here now? How are you gonna get a comparable? I really don’t know.”
In the 90-odd years since the lake’s construction, it has been a mainstay for outdoor enthusiasts.
“It’s a boon for the whole area when you look at the fishing opportunities, the recreation opportunities,” Gosen said. “It has a major positive economic impact on the whole area.”
Both Gosen and Woodard are hopeful the Edenville Dam and breached Sanford Dam to the south can be repaired or rebuilt, though they acknowledge that’s a ways off from happening.
“It’s too early,” Gosen said if reconstruction discussions were yet underway. “I think the president made a comment that the dams will be rebuilt. That’s a good thought at this point, but it’s way too early to tell. So many things need to be looked in to and taken into consideration. The first step, obviously, is to determine feasibility of rebuilding the two dams, then the cost factor comes into place.
“I certainly hope for the residents around the lake, in the whole area, that they would be rebuilt,” he continued. “It is a significant economic boost to have the lakes here. Without that, there’s gonna be a major financial impact to the community from here down.”
Even if the decision is eventually made to repair the dams and refashion Wixom Lake, the reality of things returning to normal is years down the road.
“By the time everything gets engineered, bids are let, and whatever else has to be done, I would say it’s gonna be at least a year,” Woodard said.
Gosen offered a sobering and terse statement on the subject.
“The lake is going to be down for the foreseeable future.”
Related:
‘Our whole life is gone,’ says woman whose Sanford home was washed away in Midland floods
Failed dam owner fought with state over Wixom Lake levels before flood
Feds warned years ago Edenville Dam couldn’t handle a historic flood
Federal regulators order Sanford Dam’s owner to investigate after flood
It doesn’t look good, but Sanford Dam is actually still standing with some of berm washed away
Flooding in Michigan: Everything we know about Midland County dam break
Video shows Michigan dam break as it happened: ‘Catastrophic is the only thing I can call it’
Fisherman mourns loss of Wixom Lake in wake of dam break and flood
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