Authorities and residents were assessing damage Thursday as floodwaters from heavy rains that overtook two dams retreated in some mid-Michigan communities and continued to threaten others further downriver.
Those who live along Wixom Lake in Midland County's Hope Township are wondering when, or if, water will return to their beloved lake.
"I'm sick about it. You know, I mean, it's just sickening," resident Glenn Hart said.
The 66-year-old retiree and his grandson on Thursday surveyed the lake, which had been held back by the dam but now has been left nearly empty.
"Usually, that's 21-feet deep out there in the cut," Hart said, pointing from his backyard to the muddy ground that used to be the lake bottom. "Good fishing area. Well, there's no fish now. And we don't know when we'll get water again."
Longtime resident Joanne Briggs described the scene as "something out of a science fiction movie."
"It's devastation," she said.
Mark Musselman's home is a total loss. He was planning to fly to Florida later Thursday, then drive his motor home back, set it up in the driveway and oversee the tearing down of his home.
"Well, everything's destroyed pretty much," Musselman said. "You know, we had no way of knowing. We had plenty of time. We could have got everything out.
"But we just thought that, you know, it was just going to come up. It wouldn't be any big deal."
The flooding forced the evacuation of about 11,000 people in the Midland area, about 140 miles (225 kilometers) north of Detroit.
Officials warned that the scope of the damage could take days to fully see.
The nearly century-old Edenville Dam, which failed to hold back floodwaters, was the target of lengthy investigations by federal regulators.
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