All-Time Record Flooding!
September 15th, 2008 at 3:08 am by Bill Steffen under Bill's Blog
Moisture from 3 tropical storms has hit West Michigan!!!…Gustav, Lowell (from the SW Pacific) and Ike! Look at the Wind Damage that occurred in Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky Sunday PM – gusts to 75 mph at Louisville KY and Columbus, Ohio, 74 mph at Cincinnati and Wilmington, Ohio, mph at Seymour & Greensburg, 68 mph at Decatur and 63 mph at Indianapolis…all non-thunderstorm…this was the remnants of Ike…still producing hurricane force winds +700 miles from the ocean! This was probably the biggest natural disaster for Kentucky since the Super Outbreak of Tornadoes in 1974! There were nearly a million customers w/out power in Indiana, W. Ohio, W. Kentucky and E. Missouri from the winds of Ike on Sunday! The rains of Ike are racing through Eastern Canada now…headed across the northern Atlantic for Tuesday. An all-time record flood is likely on the Kalamazoo River at Comstock and at Marshall. The Portage River at Vicksburg will rise to more than a foot above flood stage. Rainfall: 1st figure is rainfall for Sunday, 2nd figure is 3-day total, 3rd figure is rain for the month: Grand Rapids Airport 1.94″ – 4.48″ – 9.09″…..Holland 2.09″ – 4.56″ – 8.55″ ….Battle Creek 3.27″ – 9.19″ – 11.34″ ….Kalamazoo 3.40″ – 7.41″ – 10.62″ …Chicago, O’Hare 1.44″ 8.45″ 12.61″ South Bend 4.08″ – 10.89″ – 13.66″ inc. 10.47″ of rain in 2 days …Benton Harbor 2.89″ – 7.87″ – 12.61″. Storm total in Niles: 10.13″ …24-hour total of 5.55″ at Mattawan. The Interstate to Chicago (I-80, I-94) was blocked by flooding at Cline Avenue near Gary, Indiana on Sunday. The Grand River in Grand Rapids rose up 4 feet over the weekend and the flow on the Grand River tripled in 30 hours. The Little Calumet River at Munster, Indiana has set an all-time record Sunday NIght at 5.3 feet over flood stage. The National Guard was called out to assist with a possible 5,000 evacuations in NW Indiana. AmTrak rail lines are impassible in Indiana. The 7:30 AM Sunday train from GRR was still stuck in Indiana Sunday evening. The Des Plaines River in the western suburbs of Chicago will likely reach an all-time record. Flood Warnings for areas south of a line from Grand Haven to Alma.
...THE FLOOD WARNING CONTINUES FOR THE FOLLOWING RIVERS IN SOUTHWEST LOWER MICHIGAN (note Bill is typing this in at 3 AM Monday and they don't update automatically, so...click here for the latest values GRAND RIVER AT JACKSON AFFECTING JACKSON COUNTY GRAND RIVER AT EATON RAPIDS AFFECTING EATON COUNTY (2 ft. over F.S. Monday Night) GRAND RIVER AT DIMONDALE AFFECTING EATON COUNTY GRAND RIVER AT LANSING AFFECTING INGHAM COUNTY (crest Monday Night 2 feet above F.S.) GRAND RIVER NEAR COMSTOCK PARK AFFECTING KENT COUNTY (1.5 - 2 Ft. Above F.S. Weds. Night) GRAND RIVER AT ROBINSON TOWNSHIP AFFECTING OTTAWA COUNTY (crest Thursday +8" above F.S.) RED CEDAR RIVER ABOVE WILLIAMSTON AFFECTING INGHAM COUNTY (16" over F.S. Tues. Night) RED CEDAR RIVER AT EAST LANSING AFFECTING INGHAM COUNTY (25" over F.S. Tues. Night) LOOKING GLASS RIVER NEAR EAGLE AFFECTING CLINTON COUNTY (6" over F.S. Monday Night) THORNAPPLE RIVER ABOVE HASTINGS AFFECTING BARRY COUNTY (crest Tues./Tues. Nite +18" F.S.) KALAMAZOO RIVER AT MARSHALL AFFECTING CALHOUN COUNTY (crest 23" above F.S. Tuesday) KALAMAZOO RIVER AT BATTLE CREEK AFFECTING CALHOUN COUNTY PORTAGE RIVER NEAR VICKSBURG AFFECTING KALAMAZOO COUNTY (crest 24" above F.S. Monday) KALAMAZOO RIVER AT COMSTOCK AFFECTING KALAMAZOO COUNTY (+11 Ft. Tues.-Weds. possible record) KALAMAZOO RIVER NEAR NEW RICHMOND AFFECTING ALLEGAN COUNTY (+1 above F.S. Tuesday Night) ST. JOSEPH RIVER AT THREE RIVERS (3 feet over flood stage Thurs./Thurs.Night ST. JOSEPH RIVER AT NILES (1 foot over flood stage on Tuesday)
Craig, that storm went right over our home before it made it to Plymouth I think. I was standing outside on our front porch and commented how little wind there was but there was lightning and torrential rain… weird.
Our rain gauge had 8″ for the total event: .5″ Friday from Gustav, 3.2 ” Saturday at the afternoon lull from Lowell, and 4.3″ yesterday afternoon from Ike when it FINALLY stopped raining.
Our neighbors had a big ponding event in their yard yesterday and I don’t remember them ever having water standing in their yard before. The low spot we have in our yard ponded a little, but it wasn’t any worse than what I’ve seen before.
I imagine the farmers want some good dry weather so the fields will dry out, the crops won’t rot, and they can get their harvest in. I’ll bet they’d have a hard time getting into the fields right now.
I can’t remember where or when I read or heard it, and I can not find any thing in it now (it may have been a long time ago in one of the saying at the side of date pages in the Old Farmers Almanac) anyway has any one noticed that the tails of the rabbits are very white? as I remember it the saying goes if the back of the rabbits tails are very white then the winter will be snowy (I sure hope not) SlimJim
My 3 day total here was 4.91″ I will have to get the calculator for the amount for the month so far (9.26″) thats a lot of rain…SlimJim
A couple friends that have rain gauges have 6.1 about 1 mile south of town and 6.2 east of town..
whens gas going down!?
Shortage of Walnuts here too Craig… They weren’t in good shape either..
Jim, I have also noted the rabbits tails. Deer tails are really white too this year.
Hey I know we are all poor here in Michigan but if you know anyone with money a friend of mine has set up a blog in an effort to DONATE TO THOSE AFFECTED BY HURRICANE IKE. Just thought I would pass this along!
Tyler… Patrick & Ed from thegasgame.com have a welcome answer to your question.
I LIke these stats from Tom Skillings
WINTERS FOLLOWING WET SEPTEMBERS SHOW MODEST BIAS TOWARD SNOW
Snow enthusiasts may be encouraged to learn that 7 of 12 winters since 1895 which
followed wet Septembers ended up with more than the long-term average amount of
snow.
–Tom Skilling, Chief Meteorologist, WGN-TV/Chicago Tribune
Bob, I did not know that as I was going to say the winter of 1986-87 was not all that bad if I recall. (My records do not go that far back) but is seem like that winter was not the bad…On another note the latest Euro long range guess is looking like may be an average to maybe warmer then average winter with a lot of precipitation in December..as always time will tell SlimJim
Well – after holding out all weekend thinking that Tuesday the prices of gas would come down – it didn’t – forced to fill at $4.15/gallon!! ARGH!!!
Wow what a beautiful sunny morning! Cold but beautiful! My perfect blue sky has been accented by cumulus clouds that popped in the last 5 minutes or so. An interesting surprise to say the least!
FROM BLUE TO CU IN JUST 5 MINS
You can’t get service like that anywhere else LOL
Death Magnetic should arrive at my doorstep tomorrow.. *holds in excitement* =D
Oh and for those of you who love the wonder in nature, and like spiders, I suggest you check out the pic I got of this SHAMROCK SPIDER. I have been looking all year for one and finally found this beautiful specimen.
Sandy,
Meijers in Pwell wa $4.05 & admiral just of the highway was $4.03 this morning around 10am. went to Kzoo & saw gas was 4.15 – 4.19.