Record flooding occurred during the month of April and record crests occurred on the lower portions of the Grand River at Ionia, Lowell, Ada, Comstock Park, and Grand Rapids, Michigan. Due to the severity of the flooding, Michigan’s Governor Rick Snyder declared a state of disaster for 19 counties and two cities.
The two cities declared in the disaster were Grand Rapids and Ionia. The counties included in the disaster declaration included Barry, Gratiot, Ionia, Kent, Mecosta, Muskegon, Newaygo, Osceola and Ottawa. Hundreds of homes were flooded, over 300 roads closed, and preliminary flood damage estimates were in excess of 32 million dollars.
On a positive note, no lives were lost during this record flooding.
Parts of West Michigan experienced flooding rainfall from the afternoon of April 17th through the day on April 18th. Most areas saw between 2 to 4 inches of rainfall. Some local areas near Holland and Grand Rapids saw around 5 inches of rainfall. All of this rainfall fell on top of already fully saturated soil from big rains that came during early to mid April.
The flooding in many areas lingered through the weekend of April 20th and 21st into the following week. In downtown Grand Rapids flooding problems did not reach their peak until April 22nd, when the Grand River in Grand Rapids crested at 21.85 feet, causing significant flooding damage to numerous businesses and homes near the river.
Record stages were set at 5 River Forecast Points:
The Grand River at Ionia, Michigan, set a new crest stage record of 24.69 feet; the old record was 24.30 feet set back in 1948. This also set a flow/discharge record at 25,100 cubic feet per second (cfs).
The Grand River at Lowell, Michigan, set a new crest stage record of 19.02 feet; the old record was 19.00 feet set back in 1948.
The Grand River at Ada, Michigan, set a new crest stage record of 22.94 feet; the old |record was 21.60 feet set back in 1986.
The Grand River at Grand Rapids, Michigan, set a new crest stage record of 21.85 feet; the old record was 19.64 feet set back in 1985. However, this was only the fifth highest flow/discharge at 35,100 cfs.
The Grand River at Comstock Park, Michigan, set a new crest stage record of 17.80 feet; the old record was 17.75 feet set back in 1948.