Hesperia Dam holds on following another round of heavy rain

Logs pose threat of plugging dam, causing breach

Story by Allison Scarbrough, News Editor

Photos by Rob Alway, Editor-in-Chief

HESPERIA — The Hesperia Dam survived another round of heavy rain Friday night, April 17, but if logs plug it up, it could breach.

“The river is coming up, and it just started going over the spillway again,” said Hesperia Village President Mike Farber Saturday morning, April 18. “Our water has gone up about 4-6 inches overnight.”

“My dam is handling it good. It’s going over the spillway — we did some repairs to the spillway yesterday with EGLE (Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy) just to make sure if we got more overtopping that it would be safer. The dam is safe as long as it doesn’t get a bunch of debris in front of it, and it would plug it up and then it could breach it. That is the problem. The dam can hold any water and water can go over the top of it, but I’ve got a problem if a bunch of logs or debris would get in front of it.”

A mini excavator at the site along the White River is poised to pull out logs that the dam encounters. “We have cables that we can hook onto them and pull them out. We have ways of cleaning it out. We’re prepared for that.”

Plans are to replace the dam in coming years, and debris has the power to breach even a brand new dam, said the village leader. 

“So far, this dam is in pretty good shape. We’ve taken care of it and have put a lot of money into it through the years.” 

Areas downstream of the dam — all the way to Whitehall — are being hit hard with flooding, he said. “We raised Whitehall 7 inches when we took all of our boards out.”

By removing the boards, it deepened the dam to allow more water to flow through. “They call them ‘stop logs,’ but they’re actually just boards that slide down over the back of the dam and that control the height of the pond behind it,” said the village leader. “Normally, when it’s not raining, we have boards in there, and then when it rains, you pull them out.”

The area had been getting so much rain that crews could not get the boards out Wednesday. So they used a mini excavator to remove them. “Before we got the boards out, we were really concerned.”

By Saturday evening, April 18, the water should stop going over the spillway, Farber said. 

Hesperia is one of many Michigan communities threatened by potentially failing dams caused by swelling rivers due to the relentless rain. Governor Gretchen Whitmer declared a state of emergency for 38 of Michigan’s 83 counties, including Oceana and Newaygo. The village sits on the county line, so the western half of it is in Oceana, and the eastern portion is situated in Newaygo County.

All public access areas along both the White and Muskegon rivers are closed. A flash flood watch issued by the National Weather Service remains in effect until noon Sunday, April 19, and a flood warning continues until 11 p.m. Sunday. “Flows remain extremely high through the Hesperia Dam,” states NWS. “Rainfall totals up to 1.25 inches overnight have increased flows on the White River. Flash Flooding caused by a potential dam failure continues to be possible at the Hesperia Dam.”

The village president asks that people remain cautious. “Stay away from the water — it’s dangerous. Don’t mess around with the river and the road crossings. Respect the water — it’s unforgiving.”

Farber is grateful that no more rain is forecasted over the next several days — “Thank God.”

Photos of the the Hesperia Dam were taken Thursday, April 16.

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