SANILAC TOWNSHIP, Mich. – Heavy erosion is taking its toll on M-25 in Sanilac Township, and homeowners and officials are trying to fight its affect along the Huron shoreline.
A 700-foot swath of M-25 was under heavy surveillance by the Michigan Department of Transportation. Officials knew the bluff at the roadway just south of French Line Road was stressed, but the wicked nor’easter three weeks ago eroded away 15 feet of earth, dangerously close to what many might consider the I-75 thoroughfare of the thumb.
When the nor’easter blew threw in the 2100 block of Lake Shore Road, battering the Huron shoreline, it took a yeoman’s effort to save the road and to keep from having to shut down the Circle the Lakes Tour artery in Sanilac Township.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers confirmed the highest lake levels in Lake Huron history in January, and the projection is that new high-water levels will be set every month through July. High water, heavy winds and mammoth waves are beating the shoreline into nonexistence, experts said.
Sensors called inclanometers have been placed beneath the ground to detect significant earth movement.
The temporary fix carries a price tag of $300,000.
The before-and-after pictures for Norm Adam and Jenny Pytleski are startling. A tree that sat at a lazy shoreline edge in the summer is now a casualty of Lake Huron in Lake Port, south of Lexington. A rock on a sandy beach has been completely swallowed by 10-foot waves.
The rocks and pebbles that lined the shore are now being hurled by the waves at anything in their paths.
Adam and Pytleski are resorting to desperate measures to stave off Mother Nature.
You can watch Paula Tutman’s full story in the video posted above.
Here is her story from Local 4 News at 4 p.m. Friday: