CHEBOYGAN COUNTY, Mich. – In Northern Michigan, raging floodwaters near Black Lake have the Cheboygan County Sheriff’s Office urging some residents to consider self-evacuating and to grab important belongings.
Local 4 traveled to the northeast side of the Black Lake and spoke with residents whose homes and lives are entirely underwater.
“This is how deep everything is. There’s everything in my house,” one homeowner said as water inside her home reached window level.
Their home has been right off of Black Lake for almost 90 years. It’s a family fixture and now a flooded frame.
The people who own it say they’ve never seen water this wild.
“It’s going to keep going up, so now I am saving things,” the homeowner said.
Their neighbor, Jeff Gapczynski, has been coming there since he was nine years old.
“Twenty-four inches,” Gapczynski said as he was measuring the water near the home.
“That’s 26 inches deep,” Gapczynski said as he was measuring another area near the door. “It’s devastating. It’s just simply devastating. This place here has been here since 1939.”
Officials say water levels continue to climb, driven by stronger flow through the spill gate at a nearby dam.
--> Cheboygan dam update: Water level now less than 5 inches from top
Bill Rettray has lived off the lake for decades. He says he’s also never seen this kind of surge.
The current is so forceful that the lost gear is drifting right up to his deck.
“This morning while I was having a cup of coffee, I saw the raft float up,” Rettray said. “I said, ‘Where is that from? Somebody may be looking for it.’ I didn’t want it to hit the house or anybody else’s house. So, I just took a rope and tied it up to a tree. Hopefully, the owner will come by and retrieve it in the spring.”
The devastation comes as water levels rise at the Cheboygan Dam and officials worry the dam could fail.
The city of Cheboygan is warning residents to pack their bags in the event of an evacuation.
On the Black Lake, many people are leaving town, Rettray included.
“Leaving today, and we are going to be spending some time with our daughter in Traverse City,” he said. “We have people up here the year round, neighbors that will keep a good track of my house while I am gone.”
“My neighbors are trying to help their house right now, but nobody knows what’s going to happen. All the way up to the lid of the toilet,” another homeowner said.
Previous coverage: