Journalists feel the heaviness of this time, too
Dear Reader,
Kaytie Boomer got to the Sanford Dam shortly after the Edenville Dam, upstream, had burst on May 19. She was poised to capture what was about the happen, but first she had to get over what she saw.
“Debris, pontoon boats, huge trees … it was insane how much was just pressed up against this dam, including the water that was already overflowing the entire downtown of Sanford.”
Boomer is our MLive photographer in the mid-Michigan area. She has captured some of the most dramatic images of what happened during and after what is being called a “500-year” flood.
The dam failures drained two lakes, destroyed much of Sanford and has spawned a mounting number of lawsuits.
MLive returns regularly for updates on the cleanup and recovery. Boomer and Isis Simpson-Mersha, a reporter for us in Saginaw and Bay City, remain struck by the magnitude of the destruction.
“The words that keep popping up in my head are ‘complete devastation,’” said Simpson-Mersha. “Most of the (Sanford) downtown is completely wiped away. The buildings that are still standing are marked with Xs, waiting to be demolished.”
Said Boomer: “Sometimes, there’s just a mailbox, and a square of bricks” where a home used to be. “There’s a whole neighborhood like that, where the flood plain is, that’s totally wiped out.”
But on each visit, Boomer and Simpson-Mersha also find heartening stories about the human spirit.
“One woman I’ve been talking to didn’t have power in her house for three weeks,” Boomer said. “At the same time, they’re gutting their houses, saving all they can. … The resilience of these people has been amazing.”
While many residents did not have flood insurance, organizations and individuals have pitched in with donations of food and appliances, housing assistance and help in cleaning up.
“Everyone is saying, ‘We’re still pulling together to make things happen.’ That is really inspiring to see,” Simpson-Mersha said.
Boomer describes a persistent “positive spirit” in the community, even amid devastation.
“The people that are still there, they’re keeping a sense of humor because, they all say, ‘What are we supposed to do? We just have to move on, we have to hit the next step, we have to rebuild our lives,’” Boomer said.
“There’s no other option, than to start over.”
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