Flood in Newaygo County, Michigan

The combination of rain and snowmelt resulted in flooding and closure of more than a hundred roads. 30 roads were completely washed out.

On Thursday March 14, 2019 three rounds of thunderstorms combined to drop approximately 1.5 inches of rain on much of Newaygo County. In addition, the ground was frozen and approximately 4 inches of snow water equivalent was contained in the snowpack. About 2.5 inches of this snow water melted and joined the rainfall runoff.

These 3 factors all resulted in rapid and significant flooding across parts of the county that resulted in more than 50 homes and 9 businesses flooded, as well as the closure of more than 100 roads and the complete washout of more than 30 roads. A series of private dams on Penoyer Creek were also damaged. In addition, in the days after the storm, minor flooding developed along the Muskegon River that resulted in the flooding of an additional 105 homes. Damages from this storm across the county were more than $1.7 Million.