Flood — Ionia, Michigan

2020-05-18 · near Muir, Ionia, Michigan

Event narrative

Numerous roads were closed due to flooding in and near Ionia.

Wider weather episode

Significant rainfall fell across all of Lower Michigan on May 17 and 18 with many locations in Southwest Lower Michigan reporting over 3 inches of rain. This was the culmination of an already wet week that had experienced three separate episodes of heavy rain. As a result, soil was already saturated and this additional rain immediately became runoff instead of soaking into the ground. There were many reports of road closures due to water over roads and some significant damage to homes which were flooded particularly across western portions of Ottawa and Muskegon counties. The flooding caused millions of dollars worth of damage.

The Muskegon and Grand River Basins saw the brunt of the heaviest rain and were therefore impacted the most. This was particularly evident at Evart, near the uppermost reaches of the Muskegon River. Slightly farther north, the White River also saw sharp rises that resulted in minor flooding. Lakeshore flooding also occurred in this area, resulting a temporary closure of the causeway (Dowling Street) that connects Whitehall and Montague. 372 homes were impacted by flooding in Ottawa county alone.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (42.9948, -84.9615)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 890591. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.