Lincoln Township Trustee Marc Florian is feeling optimistic something can be done to help reduce flooding in the area of North Grand Mere Lake following a meeting with the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy and state Representative Joey Andrews.
Florian tells us at issue is a massive drainage district that runs from Lake Township all the way up to the Stevensville area. He says storm water runoff from the 3,800-acre area is supposed to drain into North Grand Mere Lake and then through a channel out to Lake Michigan. However, when there’s a storm or high winds, Lake Michigan tends to run back into the inland lake.
“It is so great that it will drive water upstream into North Grand Mere Lake and actually cause the reverse of what’s supposed to happen,” Florian said. “Instead of water flowing into North Lake and going out into Lake Michigan, it goes from Lake Michigan into the north Lake and then flows out and floods the entire drainage district.”
That often requires the Berrien County Drain Commissioner’s office to go in and re-excavate the channel.
Florian showed video capturing the phenomenon to the Lincoln Township Board of Trustees this week. He says Lake Township and Lincoln Township leaders have concluded there could be a solution.
“And we at Lincoln Township, along with some of our partners in Lake Township, have looked at alternatives and have concluded that some sort of a mechanism out in Lake Michigan that breaks the energy of the waves before it gets to the shore would go a long ways towards minimizing the number of times that that drain would get plugged up.”
Florian said that breakwater could reduce flooding in the Grand Mere area.
After he showed the affected area to EGLE, Florian says he believes a partnership could be formed between the state office and nearby residents to address the issue. He credited Representative Andrews with making the meeting possible and being responsive.
Below is video provided by Florian. It was shot in October of 2022 and December of 2023.