Dangerous River Conditions To Persist Through The Weekend

The Grand River will crest at most locations over the weekend, but officials say high water and debris means you should stay off all area rivers this weekend.

The National Weather Service says the Grand, Thornapple, and Rogue Rivers will have high water levels and swift conditions for quite some time, especially as even more rain is expected through the weekend.

Last Sunday and Monday's heavy showers swelled already high rivers beyond their capacity this week, spilling over banks and flooding familiar areas such as Riverside Park on Grand Rapids north side.

While this weekend's rains will be spread out over four days, it will hamper the rate of recession on all area rivers and lakes.

The Grand River crested at Ionia on Wednesday, but further downstream crests aren't expected until late Friday.

On the Thornapple, Township officials say the Cascade Dam, listed as in 'unsatisfactory' condition by the Associated Press, has been inspected and is fit to hold the high river.

On the Cascade Township web site, dam officials posted this to assuage worried residents:

We have received some calls from residents expressing concern about the Cascade Dam. The following is an excerpt from a recent communication with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) whom has jurisdiction over the Cascade Dam, “On September 11, 2018 and September 10, 2019, our annual dam safety inspections were conducted of the Cascade Hydroelectric Project No. 6228. The project structures were inspected with no significant deficiencies observed that would require immediate remedial action.”

Officials are urging people to stay off the rivers this weekend.