Earlier this month the Midwestern United States of America had some heavy rainstorms over the course of several days. Many areas of the region began to experience flooding to some degree, but nothing to far out of the ordinary. That is until Tuesday May 19th in Midland, a city in central Michigan with a population of around 42,000 people. After several rainstorms, officials began to fear that the area that was already partially flooded would be in worse shape as one of the nearby dams was showing signs of failure.

In 2018, the Edenville Dam that holds back the overflow from the Tittabawassee River, had its license to operate as a hydro-power plant revoked. For years the dam’s owners had neglected to address authority’s safety concerns, one of which was the they feared the dam would not be able to withstand a major flood event. Tim Wenzel, a musician and photographer from nearby South Haven, MI, decided to take his drone out to get a better look of the status of the Edenville Dam. With the power of the Tittabawassee River bearing down on the dam Tim said, “I strongly felt it was going to breach so I wanted to get some last shots of the lake before it was gone forever.” Tuesday afternoon Tim began flying his drone over the already flooded river. As the drone sweeps over head you can see the houses along the river bank are already partially submerged, while boat docks and roadways are no longer visible. The drone continues down the waterway until in the distance you can see the drop off of the dam, with water forcefully pouring out of it, flooding into Wixom Lake below. From the drone’s advantage point it is clear that it was only a matter of time before the dam bursts.

By 12:22 Tuesday afternoon Midland County Central Dispatch issued an evacuation alert due to the dam’s imminent failure, fearing that the surrounding area could be under 9 feet of water in a matter of hours. In the description of the video Tim posted, which now has over 162,000 views, he put out a warning, “dam breached at 6 PM. If you are down stream run like hell I am not kidding.” Once the Edenville Dam burst the onslaught of water was too much for the Sanford Dam that lies about 10 miles downstream, about 6 miles upstream of Midland. Though the Sanford Dam did not collapse, like the Edenville Dam did, it was overrun and had it’s fuse plug washed out. This resulted in much of Midland being severely flooded.

More than 10,000 people from Midland, Edenville, and Sanford were evacuated to safety, amazingly with no reported injuries. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer declared a state emergency to expedite a federal recovery program. She also said that investigations into the safety of the dams would be made. “We are looking at every potential legal recourse that we have because this incredible damage requires that we hold people responsible and we are pursuing every line of legal recourse that we can,” she said. One day after Tim first used his drone to show the world that the Edenvile Dam had met it’s breaking point, he returned to again document the destruction. His video description simply states, “Wixom is no longer a lake.” The drone shows that everything is just awash in murky water. Patrick Bush, another local drone operator and owner of Patman Droneography, also used his drone to show the devastation left in the wake of the flood.

Using his DJI Mavic 2 Pro, Patrick highlighted the major areas effected by the flood, Downtown Midland, Curtis Road Bridge, Downtown Sanford, and both dams. Both of the downtown areas are completely flooded. Cars overturned, signs knocked over, the first floors of homes and stores underwater. The Curtis Road Bridge was washed away while the roads and bridges throughout the area lay hidden below the water surface. Both dams rendered completely useless and debris scattered throughout. While the videos captured by these drones have documented a horrible event, they will surely be of service in providing data and evidence for the ensuing investigations.

In fact, it is very likely that those in the Midland area, whether residents or emergency crews, will be seeing a lot of drones in the sky soon. Many of these drone will be there simply to capture the spectacle. However, insurance companies, power companies, rescuers, and more will likely need drones to get Midland back to a state of livability. Gov. Whitmer remarked just how troubling the situation of the worst flood in over 500 years combined with the worst health crisis in 100 years is to the mental and physical state of those displaced from the Midland region. But, with the help of modern technology like drones and perseverance, the people of Midland remain hopeful.

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