Friday, January 21, 2005

Katy Batdorff / Associated Press JoAnn Szymas, right, her son, Dave, and their pets are rescued from their home near Eastmanville, on the Grand River, which flooded Wednesday after an ice jam. About 50 homes in Ottawa County were evacuated.

Grand River ices up, floods

Residents from about 50 Grand Rapids-area homes are evacuated; emergency declared.

Associated Press

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ROBINSON TOWNSHIP -- John Casemier has resided on Van Lopik Avenue for 16 years. Tim TenBrink, for less than a year.

Both men said Thursday they expect to start looking for new places to live after being forced from their rural Ottawa County homes by an icy flood of the nearby Grand River.

Theirs were among about 50 homes in two adjacent Robinson Township neighborhoods evacuated Tuesday because of the flooding, which showed no signs of receding. An ice jam on the river estimated at six miles long was blamed.

"I don't imagine I'll be back in there," said TenBrink, 48, who was living in his sister's home. He's now staying at his fiancee's house, about five miles away.

That stretch of the river usually runs about 10 feet deep this time of year. By late Thursday afternoon, the water level had risen to 18 feet, which is 4.7 feet above flood stage, said Mark Walton, a hydrologist with the National Weather Service in Grand Rapids.

About 3 to 4 feet of water covered Van Lopik and another nearby street with homes, Limberlost Lane.

The flooding appeared to have peaked Thursday and the river level upstream in Grand Rapids was dropping rapidly.Unfortunately, the frigid temperatures will prevent the flood waters from immediately retreating because so much of it has frozen in the neighborhoods, Walton said.

"We have no idea, unfortunately, how long it will take," he said. "There will be a mild warm-up in midweek, but nothing to break up the ice jam. It's possible (the flooding) could go on for weeks."

TenBrink, who just finished remodeling a bathroom in his sister's home on Sunday, shuddered at the idea. "I've heard rumors of not until spring," he said. "I doubt that. I hope we get in before that."

The flooding happened so fast in the middle of the night, TenBrink had to be taken out by boat. He later borrowed a canoe from his fiancee's brother, which he used to ferry out his pet iguana, two pairs of pants and two shirts. Everything else he owns is still in the house, which has at least several inches of water inside.

TenBrink moved into the home last spring, shortly before the neighborhood's last flood, which also forced evacuations.

The weather service also was monitoring four other ice jams: one along the Grand near Lansing, one on the Kalamazoo River near Allegan, one on the Thornapple River near Caledonia and one on the Muskegon river near Rogers Heights.

Casemier, 55, a laid-off construction worker, said he and his wife, Lynn, 50, a postal carrier in Holland, had been through five or six floods while living on Van Lopik, including a wintertime flood in 1994.

This time, they managed to get their dog, cat, photos and important papers out and put their other belongings on tables and other high places inside their home.

The couple is staying with friends and may end up renting a relative's apartment in Grand Haven.

Their son is selling his Hamilton home and John Casemier said he intends to talk with him about buying it. "I think we might be moving to Hamilton," Casemier said. "My wife has really had enough."