Five years after Edenville, Michigan dams remain a ‘ticking time bomb’

LANSING, MI — Five years ago, Michigan learned a hard lesson about the dangers posed by its fleet of elderly, decrepit dams when days of heavy rain swelled the impounded rivers above the poorly-maintained, century-old Edenville Dam.

The soggy structure collapsed on May 19, 2020. A torrent of floodwater from the Tittabawassee and Tobacco rivers ripped homes off foundations and washed out bridges; overwhelming a second dam, flooding downtown Midland and sending 10,000 people into evacuation during a pandemic.