MICHIGAN, United States (AP) — Floodwaters have overtaken dams and forced the evacuation of about 10,000 people from communities in central Michigan, where the governor warned that Dow Chemical Company's hometown could end up under nine feet of water and said the state will investigate the dam operators.
By yesterday morning, water several feet deep covered streets and parking lots, and had reached a hotel near the river in downtown Midland.
Governor Gretchen Whitmer said downtown Midland, a city of 42,000 and home to Dow Chemical Company, faced an especially serious flooding threat.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission said it has directed Boyce Hydro to establish an independent investigation team to determine the cause of the damage to Sanford Dam, and that it would reach out to state officials regarding the Edenville Dam.
The flooding likely will pose a significant setback to the clean-up of a federal Superfund site caused by Dow's release of dioxins in the last century, which contaminated sediments and floodplains along 50 miles (80 kilometres) of the Tittabawassee and Saginaw rivers, said Allen Burton, a professor of environment and sustainability at the University of Michigan.
