Michigan declares an emergency after two dams collapse threatening a town with 9 feet of flooding

• Heavy rainfall has caused the failure of two dams in Michigan, prompting Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to declare a state of emergency.
• "Please, get somewhere safe, now," Whitmer said in a Tuesday evening address. "This is serious and it is time for people to take action."
• "Our community is facing almost certain devastation by morning," stated the official Twitter account for the County of Midland.

Parts of Michigan could be under nine feet of water by Wednesday morning after two dams failed in the wake of heavy rainfall, according to state and local officials.

"Please, get somewhere safe, now," Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said in a Tuesday evening address, declaring a state of emergency and calling up the National Guard. "This is serious and it is time for people to take action."

"This is unlike anything we've seen before," she added, saying downtown Midland, Michigan, which is located about an hour and a half north of Lansing, could be under nine feet of water by morning.

The Edenville Dam on Wixom Lake failed Tuesday afternoon, followed by the breach of the downstream Sanford Dam.

"Over the past several days parts of Michigan have experienced heavy rainfall," Whitmer's emergency declaration notes. "As a result, the Edenville and Sanford Dam structures along the Tittabawassee River in the county of Midland have failed."

The declaration also temporarily suspends the COVID-19 emergency order for the city and county of Midland.

Thousands of residents have already been evacuated, Whitmer said, with local officials predicting that the worst is yet to come.

"Our community is facing almost certain devastation by morning," stated the official Twitter account for the County of Midland.

The National Weather Service issued a warning to local residents, according to a local news report.

"Life-threatening flash flooding of areas downstream from the Edenville Dam along the Tittabawassee River," the warning stated.

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