Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer has requested federal emergency aid in a letter to President Donald Trump, asking POTUS to declare an emergency for Midland County on an expedited basis, according to MLive.
According to the governor, 10,000 residents were forced to leave their homes due to 'imminent danger' of the failure of the Edenville Dam following heavy rain that triggered what officials say will be historic flooding.
These used to be lakes! Now emptied into Midland County after all the dams holding them back broke. 😭💔🙏#midlandflood #MidlandDam #MidlandCounty #Emergency pic.twitter.com/jKb2s5zJG3
— Julie... (@Jules_Atkinson) May 20, 2020
This was one road to the east of me last night. Evacuating people & many animals...#MidlandDam #midlandflood #MidlandCounty #Emergency pic.twitter.com/K8mEY61tTn
— Julie... (@Jules_Atkinson) May 20, 2020
Whitmer previously said that the downtown area of Midland could soon be under approximately nine feet of water and warned of "historic" high flood levels.
"It's hard to believe that we are in the midst of a 100-year crisis -- a global pandemic -- and that also we're dealing with flooding that looks to be the worst in 500 years," Whitmer earlier said.
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump has said that he had spoken to Gretchen and plans to visit Midland in the future.
"I just spoke with Gretchen Whitmer. I will be going to Michigan at the appropriate time," Trump said, according to press pool report. "They have a big problem with the dams breaking. So that is a big, big problem."
As we sign off for the night, we want to remind folks that we evacuated ~11k people in >12 hrs in a 500-year flood w/out a single casualty or 1 major injury. That is what happens when our residents listen to our warnings & work w/us. Thank you Midland for making our jobs easier❤ pic.twitter.com/cdyt34nPMd
— City of Midland, MI (@CityofMidlandMI) May 21, 2020
Dow Inc. has activated its local emergency center in Michigan and “is implementing its flood preparedness plan which includes the safe shutdown of operating units on site,” the company said after two dams failed upstream of its Midland, Michigan, headquarters. via Bloomberg pic.twitter.com/O9yRoY3dm3
— PDF Streaming (@PDFStreaming_) May 20, 2020
The National Weather Service warned of a "life-threatening" flood after the water level in the Tittabawassee River in Midland, about 193 km northwest of Detroit, rose to a historically record level.
The after. #midlandflood pic.twitter.com/GKYRt1LNwo
— Randy Dunham (@goodgolly64) May 21, 2020
Donald Trump, who planned to visit the Ford Motor Company in Michigan on Thursday, tweeted that Federal Emergency Management Agency and military personnel have been sent to the flood-affected area.
