INDIAN RIVER – The floodwaters are pulling back from communities along the Sturgeon River, but what they are leaving behind is drawing a sharper picture of a recovery that could stretch well into summer, with damaged homes, scarce insurance coverage, and a lodging crunch on the horizon.
Indian River Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Vicki Morgan said approximately 200 homes in the area were damaged by the flooding, a number that underscores the scope of what communities upstream of Cheboygan Dam are now facing. With area hotels already beginning to shift their focus toward the summer tourism season, displaced residents may find themselves competing for a shrinking pool of affordable overnight options as repairs drag on.
The strain is already visible along the river. James Wilson, a Sturgeon River resident, returned this week to a home that took on nearly three feet of water. He evacuated on April 13 with the waters rising behind him.
What greeted him was a gut-down in progress, flooring ripped up, walls broken open, everything staged for mold remediation before rebuilding could begin.
“My fridge was definitely floating at one point. I’ve never seen a fridge float,” Wilson said. “All our appliances are gone. Everything was mostly lost.”
Wilson said he carried flood insurance, a rarity among his neighbors. Many residents along the Sturgeon, he said, either could not obtain coverage or had not considered it necessary. Few had ever seen the river reach this level.
“The majority of the people around here, they can’t even get it, or they don’t have it,” Wilson said.
Wilson described water moving through the area with force, fast enough to reshape the contour of the ground and deep enough that he was wading through waist-high current when he left.
He said the flooding was not on anyone’s radar before it happened and called for a reckoning on water-level monitoring infrastructure across the region.
“You would have thought we learned years ago from Sanford Dam,” he said. “This wasn’t brought up or talked about anywhere.”
Morgan said the chamber moved quickly once the scale of the damage became clear, acquiring pumps, sandbags, and supplies and coordinating with the township to distribute them. Potable water is available at the township for residents whose well pumps may have been submerged.
An emergency shelter is opening at the Indian River Lions Club with food and overnight accommodations. The Glow community center is open daily as a gathering space and relief hub.
On the financial side, Morgan is pushing for state intervention. She is asking for a release of Small Business Administration loans, aid that can be unlocked under a governor’s emergency declaration, which Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has already issued, and wants an SBA representative stationed at the chamber so residents and business owners can apply for repair loans directly.
“We are a mighty community here in Indian River,” Morgan said. “Neighbors taking care of neighbors, fast to respond.”
Wilson said the community’s spirit has held through the worst of it, but the road ahead is long, and the relief of watching the water drop comes with its own weight.
“As it goes down, it just reveals more damage,” he said. “Every time she does this, she reminds us she’s relentless.”