See Lock & Dam for general information about this dam.
A lot of the Facebook posts talked about the three stages of evacuation warnings rather than about what was being done to manage the water. The stages are:
Apr 12: The water level is 18" from the top. The gates are up but still installed. (In a couple of days, the gates will be removed.)
In March 2026, the Cheboygan River watershed received a record 3.5' of snow, which left a 2.5' snowpack to melt. In April, it melted and several inches of rain fell in a few days while the ground was still frozen. This triple whammy created a big flow in the river.
Between Apr 11 and Apr 17, I got three or four dozen posts in my Facebook feed about this dam. Many of them were redundant videos of the water flowing through the spillway. I've tried to separate the wheat from the chaff.
The flow created a crisis that the dam may be overtopped. The crisis was caused because Consumer Power did not repair their hydropower plant after a fire in 2023 or 2024. (I've seen both years specified.) That plant provided 30% or 40% (I've seen both figures) of the discharge capacity. The water level got within 5" of the top of the dam before they got enough turbine capacity on Apr 17 to pass enough water to reduce the water level.
 |
| Facebook Reel [How do I find the date of a Facebook Reel? I think this was April 10. Opening the US-23 Bridge was one of the first actions taken for the flood.] |
 |
| Amy Gardner commented on the above reel. Its getting real serious around us.. this is the M119 bridge by the tunnel of trees and cross village. Please stay safe!!! [Was it a bridge, or was it just that the little culvert pipe that we see to the left of center?] |
A lot of the Facebook posts talked about the three stages of evacuation warnings rather than about what was being done to manage the water. The stages are:
- Within 12" (30cm) of the top and rising: Ready
- Within 6" (15cm) of the top and rising: Set
- Within 1" (2.5cm): Go
In the Ready Stage you are advised to plan where you would go and what you need to take. I've seen several photos of bridges wiped out, roads washed out So planning your evacuation route would require some research. And could change. When you plan what to take, don't forget your medicines and pets. And food for the pets. In the Set Stage, start packing, move valuables including important papers to a high level and secure your outdoor furniture so that it is not washed away. In the Go Stage, get out of there. (Actually, I would not wait for Go because of the fear of jammed and/or blocked roads.)
Apr 9:
 |
| Michigan Department of Natural Resources posted While water levels have remained stable today, DNR crews spent the day placing 1,500 sandbags along the Cheboygan Lock as a precautionary safety measure. Portions of the area have been closed off to keep the public safe. Sue Fisher: Previous post from the DNR stated that all the dam gates are open. |
Apr 11: It looks like they are retiring a smaller pump on the left and installing three larger pumps on the right. Note the remnants of the snowpack. Several more inches of rain were forecasted for the next few days.
 |
| Facebook Reel |
Apr 12: The water level is 18" from the top. The gates are up but still installed. (In a couple of days, the gates will be removed.)
 |
| Facebook Reel |
Apr 12: I guess they did not retire the pumps that have the longer hoses. They have 5 pumps running. But it looks like they are a drop in the bucket. Are they installing pumps just so that it looks like they are doing something?
 |
| Cheboygan County Sheriff's Office posted |
By Apr 14, they brought in some industrial strength sandbags.
 |
| Michigan Department of Natural Resources posted DNR teams continue working cooperatively with many others to prevent flooding and keep water flowing through the Cheboygan Lock and Dam Complex. One of the things they appreciate most as they keep pumps going, move sandbags and brainstorm additional solutions is public support. “The community support and hospitality has been outstanding,” said Mike Janisse, leader of the DNR’s Incident Management Team on site in Cheboygan. “Merchants have worked with us on providing materials, people have given us ideas and have even volunteered to help. We appreciate it and we are going to do everything we can to protect this area. Mother Nature needs to help as well.” Greg Palmer: Looks like they are finally thinking big instead of micro with the sandbags... I also see that PPE has been uploaded compared to initial response. Still think the pumps are too small for this event, 12" or large only..... I have worked on events like this in the past, never used anything smaller than 12". Update... It has been stated below that they have installed a couple 24" pumps... 👍 [The 24" pumps must be the two red ones we see in photos below.] |
Apr 14, 16:28 (time stamp is in the upper-right corner of the screenshot): why don't we see the yellow pumps that are in the above Apr 12 photo? And what is the "black snake" on the left side? (The "black snake" is a water filled tube "to guide the water.") This video also
shows that water is getting very close to some houses.
 |
| Facebook Reel |
Apr 14 comments on a post:
Gina Marie: What happened to the offers of help from larger, more effective pumps from Harbor Springs and others?
Michael O'Brien: Gina Marie new pumps have arrived and more are coming
Gina Marie: Michael O'Brien I heard! Also heard they’re turning down a lot of larger pumps. 🫤
I don't know how to get the date for a Facebook Reel.
 |
| Facebook Reel |
Apr 14:
Marc Spaak posted 10 photos with the comment:
What I can say today about the Cheboygan Dam situation.My last post I mentioned that is appeared that they were removing the motors or electrical panels from the dam.Turns out that is exactly what they were doing so that they could remove the gates from the dam. Currently the dam is running wide open with zero restrictions. This was the reason for the gravel that was spread near the parking lot, as you can see the crane is massive.What I suspected to be a power bank coming to town, turns out to be a power grid. Consumers has a large presence here to set that up. The guys that I have spoke to from consumers mentioned they were told to expect 16 hour days.They are prepping for worse case here. In the event that something fails, if the current power grid gets taken out, they will be ready to switch over to the temp grid. Let that process a moment, they are doing all of that work, just in case.Its been said that they are close to trying to fire up the turbine. If it works this will be a game changer in controlling the water level.As we have focused on this situation let us not forget this spring has been hard on many. Our neighbors are flooded, some areas with over two feet of water surround their homes, bridges are underwater and roads are being washed away...
Cheryl Mason Thompson: I also read Illinois has sent some electric cable needed to reopen the hydroelectric station and further increase flow. Glad to see my state helping!
Marc Spaak: Cheryl Mason Thompson yeah, a company went down and got it, I heard a pricetag of 150k
 |
| 1 |
 |
| 2 |
 |
| 3 |
 |
| 4 |
 |
| 5 |
 |
| 6 |
 |
| 7 |
 |
| 8 |
 |
| 9 |
 |
| 10 |
I presume that Consumer Power is building the temporary grid as a contingency because they have a switchyard down in the flood plain.
Yep, it is just downstream from the dam.
 |
| Satellite |
Apr 14:
DL Dixon posted two images with the comment:
THE DNR SEEMED TO WAIT UNTIL THE 11TH HOUR TO ADDRESS HIGH LEVELS AT THE DAM. The second graph helps explain…1) The Sturgeon River’s graph shows the dramatic rise in discharge since yesterday, breaking more 84 year records.2) The Mullett graph shows data the DNR relies on for their gate adjustment at the dam, and covers the last two months, with a green line added to depict target levels. The winter drawdown target gradually lowers, then remains steady until ice is off the lake and water flow controllable at the dam. The drawdown takes levels to 12” below summer level each winter to allow for “storage” in area lakes, allowing for spring runoff to be safely stored in area lakes in rivers before passing through the Dam to Lake Huron. As early as March 11th, before the 30” snowfall, levels were 10” over target, and worsened from there. Why wait until the eleventh hour to address dangerous levels, especially when the DNR’s Cheboygan Dam lost 40% of flow capacity with the Hydro shuttered?Links for these sites:https://waterdata.usgs.gov/monitoring.../USGS-04129950/...https://waterdata.usgs.gov/monitoring.../USGS-04127997/...The legacy page is accessed via another link at the top of each page.
[Please access the "posted" link to access the other links.]
Marc Spaak posted two photos with the comment: "As the Cheboygan Dam was within 6 inches of being breached, the water pumps have been upgraded..."
[Some tidbits gathered from the comments. These are 24" dewatering pumps. According to an Apr 14, 9:45pm comment, 6 pumps have been installed. A pump moves 16k gallons per minute. The dam is flowing about 50k gallons per sec or 3,000k gallons per minute.]
 |
| 1 |
 |
| 2 |
Apr 15:
 |
| Bill Bee posted Water levels are once again rising at the Cheboygan Dam 😳 |
Posted Apr 15, 8:08. I think the photo is old because it doesn't look like it is within a half-foot of the top where the man is standing. Although I've seen some evidence that that wall is higher than the walls in other spots along the reservoir.
 |
| Christopher Otto posted First- the manpower applied to resolving this is incredible. Everyone is working so hard. Props. I worked with the crew of Durocher Dock and Dredge back in the late 1980s when the stone cladding was being placed below the dam. It is built incredibly tough! I truly feel that this facility and the river downstream can handle all this water pressure so take heart. The dam is closer to breach. They have not fired up the turbines as of yet. They're applying up to another five pumps today. As quick as possible. Those are 2- 24 inch red pumps right there able to pump right now over 1,200,000 +/- gallons a day. Unfortunately the damn allows 4800 ft.³ of water a second at normal “high” capacity. It will be much higher than that during this dilemma. Minimum, That's about 500,000,000 ft.³ of water a day if everything is open and flowing, it will be close to 1,000,000,000 gallons of water a day so the pumps at best are taking a little edge off. NEED the turbines open that will add another 20% drawdown capacity. Again… Props to the crews for their 24 hour vigilance. [The paper plant next to the paper plant had a hydropower plant. Even though the paper plant shutdown, the hydropower plant kept running. But a fire in 2023 or 2024 (I've seen both years) damaged the hydropower plant.] Anne P. Couture: FERC ordered the property owners to repair the turbines last summer. Ownership disputes continued and resulted in FERC extending the time frame of their order. So now public $$$ are being used to repair the damage to get them running again, potentially handling almost 30% of the flow now going over the dam. [They have been spending the last few days trying to get the turbines running. I still don't understand why they need to run. Why isn't opening the valves and letting the water run through them good enough? ]Glenn WB: I read the hydro was running but my source apparently was not accurate. Is there a prognosis on this? Christopher Otto: Glenn WB i’ve heard conflicting reports. I know they have opened up valves, but apparently the city needs to be shut down for two hours so that they can completely confirm that the electrical is going to work correctly, then go ahead and fire up the turbines. Dawn VanAmberg: They got them started but they shook the building. Still issues to be resolved. Pray! |
The good news is that the reservoir level went down an inch since the Apr 15 6.6" report. The bad news is that it went down because a levee broke.
 |
| Lisa Judi Sherm posted ⚠️‼️EVACUATION NOTICE- CHEBOYGAN CO.‼️⚠️ 🛑The County Office of Emergency Management has issued an evacuation notice for: US-23 shoreline from Pries Landing south, to the Cheboygan River, down to Lincoln St., back along Court St., to Levering Rd., and Inverness Trail, up to the US-23 Shoreline. (See Map) If you are in this area, you must LEAVE NOW! This is for the areas near a levee breach of the Little Black River Watershed.( Which are unrelated to current activities at Cheboygan Dam and Lock.) 🛑Please leave your residence and travel south of the City of Cheboygan.🛑 When you evacuate, TIE A TOWEL/FABRIC ON YOUR FRONT DOOR HANDLE TO INDICATE THE RESIDENCE IS EMPTY- Please make it visible from the road. If you are unable to evacuate, dial 9-1-1 for assistance.First responders are currently assisting with evacuation efforts. Cheboygan County Sheriff's Office for more info! |
Apr 15, 9:10pm: Two bigger pumps being added to the increased flow effort.
.jpg) |
| Elijah Krzeszewski commented on a post |
Apr 16:
.jpg) |
| Erica R King commented on a post Meteorologist Brad Sugden posted Cheboygan River levels have still been rising with a new height of less than 6" below the top of the dam. This is "set" of the Ready, Set, Go plan implemented. Stay safe, we still have a lot of water to go down into the lakes / rivers in the Watershed. Mullet lake is still rising and so is Black Lake. Those drain down through the dam. Posting often can reduce how many people Facebook shows my content to. If you’re seeing this, tapping any reaction—👍🥰😢😡—helps make sure others see it too. I appreciate you! |
Apr 16:
 |
| Facebook Reel |
This Apr 16 reel says that they are up to 11 pumps.
Apr 16:
This screenshot is just after the ice broke the safety cable. You can see where the cable fell into the water.
 |
| Facebook Reel |
 |
| Same Reel |
It appears that they have gotten some blue pumps as well as red pumps.
 |
| Facebook Reel "They are reporting 5.75" from the top. |
"The pumps can handle 125,000 gallons per minute when fully operational. A variety of sandbags and a large, water-filled tube also are in place to guide flowing water and prevent erosion. Spring rains and melting snow from a record March snowfall have caused rivers across the watershed to swell.: [michigan_black_river_problems]
Apr 17:
 |
| MSP Emergency Management & Homeland Security Division posted While water levels have dropped at the Cheboygan Lock and Dam Complex, they’re expected to fluctuate further as water moves into the basin from upstream. Consumers Energy, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Detroit District, state agencies and other contractors worked long hours to reopen the powerhouse. |
 |
| Andy Evans posted TWO INCH drop at the Dam since 10:15 am 4/17. |
The record of 16.8' shows that with all of the turbines running, the dam could have easily passed the flow that this storm caused. It is a shame that the federal regulators did not insist on repairs soon after the fire. Instead of paying for repairs, there is now the expense of paying for a lot of overtime to make repairs and building a temporary grid.
 |
| noaa |
I don't know how to get the water level upstream of the dam. But the rise of 18" from the top on Apr 11 to 5" from the top on Apr 16 must have been significant.
 |
| Detroit News posted "Reporter Beth LeBlanc reports as homeowners along the lakes feeding into the swollen Cheboygan River started seeing water spilling into their cottages and lake houses on Wednesday. "Homeowners along the inland lakes have watched their lakes, popular for summertime boating, slowly eat away at their shoreline property this week, eventually spilling water into and around their homes. "Major flooding across the northern Lower Peninsula, caused in part by water on a massive chain of inland lakes, is backing up into yards and homes. It is also washing out roads and bridges as officials seek ways to increase the flow from those upstream waterways and through the troubled Cheboygan dam. More at the link in bio. Video and reporting by Beth LeBlanc, The Detroit News" |
