Guard Helps Emergency Crews Stem Swollen Michigan Rivers

National Guardsmen helped emergency crews Saturday across the midsection of Michigan’s Lower Peninsula, where flooding had knocked out six dams, killed at least six people and put villages under several feet of water.

About 64,000 homes were without power.

A three-day series of storms that dumped up to 13 inches of rain moved out of Michigan early Friday. Rain is possible tonight, but it would be north of the hardest-hit areas, meteorologist Chuck DeFever said.

About 100 guardsmen filled sandbags and used bulldozers to contain bulging rivers in at least three counties, said Col. John R. Ghere, operations officer for the Michigan National Guard military support office.

Trouble Spots

The biggest problems in the state Saturday were in Ionia County, where Belding Dam had threatened to breach and inundate two towns, and around Saginaw, where the Saginaw River, which has a flood stage of 19 feet, was expected to crest between 26 and 27 feet late today or early Monday.

Since flooding began Tuesday, 990 people have taken refuge in emergency shelters, and many more have moved in with friends and relatives, said Juliana Phillips, spokeswoman for the state police.

Phillips said 64,000 homes were without power Saturday and 30,000 homes had floodwaters in their basements.

She said that in addition to the six dams that had failed, 13 across the state were threatened.

Water Over Dam

Belding Dam, which still is under construction, held fast while two feet of water from the Flat River cascaded over it, officials said.

Fears had eased by afternoon, when the water began dropping and the dam appeared to be holding.

A breach would have sent up to eight feet of water down the Flat River toward Belding and Smyrna, officials said. About 200 people up to a mile downstream from the 100-foot-wide dam were evacuated beginning Friday night. They had not returned by Saturday.

At least 4,100 people statewide were under evacuation orders Saturday, Phillips said, and hundreds more had been evacuated at one time or another.