{"id":580957,"date":"2026-04-13T04:11:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T04:11:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/580957\/"},"modified":"2026-04-13T04:11:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T04:11:13","slug":"flooding-concerns-at-cheboygan-dam-continue-with-rain-snowmelt-forecast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/580957\/","title":{"rendered":"Flooding concerns at Cheboygan dam continue with rain, snowmelt forecast"},"content":{"rendered":"

CHEBOYGAN COUNTY, Mich. \u2014 The Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) added more pumps to divert water around the Cheboygan dam on Sunday after Gov. Gretchen Whitmer activated the State Emergency Operations Center<\/a> on Friday as rising water levels raise concerns about flooding in nearby communities. <\/p>\n

With up to 2 more inches of rain forecast over the coming days for the watershed feeding the Cheboygan Lock and Dam, following an already heavy week of rainfall and melting snowfall that sent water levels up to 18 inches below the top of the dam on Friday, officials are working to continue adding pumps and divert water. <\/p>\n

By Sunday afternoon river levels rose to 15 inches below the top of the dam. If the water rises just 3 more inches to be at 12 inches below the top of the dam, the response will “expand to include additional public safety measures.” <\/p>\n

Officials are advising residents in the area to sign up for alerts online <\/a>or call 211 for information about potential evacuation.<\/p>\n

The “Ready, Set, Go” safety measures in place are as follows:<\/p>\n

Ready: When water is 12 inches below the top of the dam with levels rising 3 inches a day or more. Plan and\/or pack in the event an evacuation becomes necessary.Set: When water reaches 6 inches below the top of the dam, with water levels rising at a rate of 3 inches per day or levels rising 3 inches per day and predicted to top the dam within 48 hours. Prepare by packing and preparing your family, pets and vehicle for potential departure.Go: When water levels are 1 inch below the top of the dam with a high probability of topping it, with the potential for failure occurring. Follow evacuation orders; roadblocks may be installed around the perimeters.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, a large piece of ice snapped the dam safety cable, resulting in DNR officials closing access points upstream and downstream of the dam. DNR officials are strongly urging the public to stay off the waterway near the dam and surrounding areas.<\/p>\n

\"On<\/p>\n

On Thursday, a large piece of ice snapped the dam safety cable, resulting in DNR officials closing access points upstream and downstream of the dam. DNR officials are strongly urging the public to stay off the waterway near the dam and surrounding areas.{ }(Michigan Department of Natural Resources\/WWMT)<\/p>\n

So far DNR crews have five pumps diverting water around the structure. They are also working with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), which regulates the dam, to look at options for reopening a hydroelectric generation station at the dam site to move additional water and add water flow capacity.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of the dam gates on the DNR-managed portion of the dam are fully open to handle this flow. The pumps add to the capacity,\u201d Hill said. \u201cWe are putting through as much water as we can…Our objectives for this incident are to work closely with the FERC and the operators and owners of the hydro building to look at options…Some water is going through the bypass valves on that part of the dam.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Cheboygan<\/p>\n

Cheboygan Lock and Dam on April 10, 2026. (Michigan Department of Natural Resources\/WWMT) <\/p>\n

Comment with Bubbles<\/p>\n

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Two thousand sandbags are in place to direct water flow and more may be added, DNR officials said. Crews also removed a timber debris screen in front of one of the dam gates to increase water flow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CHEBOYGAN COUNTY, Mich. \u2014 The Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) added more pumps to divert water around…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":580958,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[192,79],"class_list":["post-580957","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/580957","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=580957"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/580957\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/580958"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=580957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=580957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=580957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}