Breaking News
Local News

High-water record broken in April, experts expect more

By Steve Schulwitz 2 min read
News Photo by Steve Schulwitz Alpena Department of Public Works employees will have their work cut out for them when they begin cleaning up local beaches and parks. A lot of debris has been driven to shore by high Lake Huron water levels and strong winds in the winter and spring. Bay View Park, pictured, is only one of several in Alpena that were damaged.

ALPENA -- Water levels in Lake Huron were at an all-time high for the month of April and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers expects them to continue to rise.

The latest record for Lakes Huron and Michigan, which are measured as one body of water, is about 13 inches higher than April 2019, and 3 inches higher than the record set in 1986, the Army Corps reports.

The Army Corps predicts a continued rise through the end of July, bringing an additional five or six inches of water, with an outside chance of 10 inches on Lakes Michigan and Huron.

Since spring 2019, Northeast Michigan has seen its coastal property battered because of the high water and strong onshore winds. Alpena has tried to use sandbags and large rocks to slow the water, but damage to areas such as Blair Street Pier, Starlite Beach, and Bay View Park is ongoing.

City Engineer Rich Sullenger said that, because the city's Department of Public Works is working split shifts because of the threat of COVID-19, repairs, maintenance and clean-up has been a little slow this spring. He said crews are beginning to remove debris from the beaches and sand from along the walkway at Starlite Beach, but repairs on the pier are going to have to wait.

"The ice and the wind really damage the decking on it," Sullenger said. "It is going to be some time until we are going to be able to get to that."

Repairing sidewalks broken because of the high water is also going to have to wait, Sullenger said. It makes no sense to repair them if the water is just going to continue to run under them and cause them to collapse.

"In those areas, we'll have them barricaded off and wait and see what happens with the water levels," he said.

The water in Thunder Bay is also creeping closer to the water and waste recycling plant. Sullenger said a study is being done that will help determine any threat to the plant and to help develop plans in conjunction with the Army Corps.

The study "will ... give us an accurate depiction of where we are at and where we could be going," Sullenger said. "The plans we have now are older information and we wanted to be sure they were brought up to date."

Steve Schulwitz can be reached at 989-358-5689 at sschulwitz@thealpenanews.com.

Starting at /week.