WEST OLIVE, MI (WHTC-AM/FM) – The concerns about shoreline erosion are being taken very seriously at the Fillmore Street complex.
Weather conditions over the past two months have acerbated the effects of high water levels on Lake Michigan upon private property and public infrastructure from the state line north to Ludington and beyond. There are projections of a “significant wave event” expected on Monday by the National Weather Service Office at Ford Airport in Grand Rapids, with waves of seven to 10 feet forecast and gale force winds likely causing lakeshore flooding and erosion.
Nick Bonstell, Director of Emergency Management for Ottawa County, says that the NWS has worked closely with his and other similar offices since June on monitoring the situation. “You know, on a normal year, you probably wouldn’t see that same alert come out,” he admitted during a Friday appearance on “WHTC Talk of the Town.” “Seven to 10 feet waves are something, in normal storm conditions here, that wouldn’t rise to the level of an alert from the National Weather Service, but they get where we’re at.”
While Grand Haven has already asked Governor Whitmer for a disaster declaration, Bonstell isn’t about ready to go before the county board for a similar request, saying that there are precise relief standards set by Washington that haven’t been met yet, but he doesn’t expect any relief from these conditions anytime soon.
