HASTINGS, Mich. (WOOD) — Homeowners dealing with flooding from Barry County’s Crooked Lake will soon see relief.
The county’s board of commissioners Monday unanimously approved the drain commissioner's request for $500,000 in emergency funding to address the issue.
Residents packed the board room in Hastings to hear about the course of action.
The short-term plan calls for pumping water through private irrigation systems onto farm land and other drainage areas, reducing the lake by 300 million gallons by Labor Day. That would drop lake levels by about a foot, which drain officials say should be enough to prevent homes from flooding.
“I would still probably have sand bags just in case we got big rain, but still – this is a lot of water we’re talking about. Just on Upper Crooked Lake alone – 20 million gallons. That’s a lot of water. Two lakes combined, one inch is 32 million gallons,” said drain commission engineer Brian Cenci.
Cenci said his long-term recommendation is to create an outlet that drains Crooked Lake into another watershed.
“Ultimately, we want to use gravity and not be pumping,” said Cenci.
However, he cautioned a solution hasn’t been finalized.
“We don't have which option or what the long-term solution will be. Our efforts have been focused on short-term. But I've always said, normal drain projects take time. (They) take two, three, four years, because they involve private landowners and involve easements and right of way permits and stuff,” he explained.