KENT CITY, Mich. — The storms and heavy rainfall over the past few days caused widespread floods throughout the state. Some roads from Detroit to Kalamazoo were sub-merged under water.
However, despite the damage, the Michigan DNR said they were grateful for every raindrop.
“It was great to see some of this rain come in all last week. Some of it did come too fast and too much. Some did get flooding,” said Paul Rogers, fire prevention specialist with the DNR. “But, as you can see, the grass is already greening out. The corn is returning to its normal state. It’s great to have this again.”
Rogers said they were happy to see the rain because the National Drought Monitor showed Michigan was in a moderate-to-severe drought for several weeks. It was so bad that the DNR halted doing prescribed burns. They requested residents do the same.
“Actually up to a week ago we were in very severe drought conditions,” Rogers said. “We are well below our normal precipitation.”
However, there was so much rain that Michigan will be drought-free for the next 3-4 weeks.
Despite the rain, Rogers recommended people practice fire safety and prevention, especially with the holiday coming. He said fires can break out at any time. So he suggested people have a bucket of water nearby at all times.
“I’m sure there’s going to be a lot of fireworks shooting off," Rogers said. "Again, try and be careful not shooting them into wooded areas. Some areas could be dry under trees where a lot of precipitation didn’t fall. Just be extremely careful with them. When you have an area you’re lighting them off that’s in the grass, wet that area down before you start lighting them. That should prevent any fires from starting when you lighting.”
