STAY OUT of the affected areas - DO NOT go around barriades.
UPDATE 5 - April 19, 2026 at 04:00 PM
CLEARING HAZARDS
With the assistance of Michigan Rescue Taskforce 1 Swift Water Team, Michigan DNR, Newaygo County Sheriff’s Office, Newaygo Fire Department, and Grant Fire Department initial damage assessment and posting of homes is almost completed. In addition, many homes also have information packets posted. These teams were able to get us access to areas we would not have otherwise been able to reach yet.
PROPANE TANK REMOVAL
The SEOC is working on gaining necessary approvals needed to remove and transport stray propane tanks. Team are tracking the number and location of tanks which need to be recovered and removed. We expect this operation to start Tuesday.
RE-ENTRY
We remain in Moderate to Major Flood stage and many areas will not become accessible until Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday this week. Each day, teams are accessing the safety and accessibility of each of the areas and advise if they can be released for re-entry. Water levels need to be below 12 inches in these areas in order to be released. Based on the current forecast, we expect the remainder of Devil’s Hole to be released for re-entry starting on Monday or Tuesday. Downstream will take much longer as the water levels remain substantially high.
REOPENING OF LAUNCHES
In order to limit damage to banks and homes, boat launches will not be reopened until the Flood Warnings are lifted for each of the three areas (Croton to M-37, Sarrell to Warner, and Warner to Maple Island.
RESTORATION OF POWER
In our procedures, de-energization (disconnects) are done when water levels reach above 11.0 feet at Croton. This is communicated out in advance so residents know what to expect. 11.0 feet is used as threshold because at that level we know homes are surrounded with water.
- Disconnects are done proactively in order protect the homes from shortages which can cause structure fires. In addition, this process protects emergency personnel working in the area and property owners when they return.
- Subdivision locations are provided to the companies with the known list of addresses that are expected to be inundated with water based on the forecast. It is up to the power companies on how they have to disconnect the area based on their equipment and infrastructure.
- The power companies goal is to try and mitigate loss of customers more widespread to the best of their ability. However, in some cases they are unable to isolate the outage to a smaller area. This results in some residents losing their power even when they are not inundated with water in order to protect their neighbors who are.
- In order to restore power, assessment teams have to confirm it is safe to do so. Depending on how their infrastructure is built/connected, it may not be possible to restore power to individual homes. In these cases, all hazards in the area need to be cleared as a neighborhood before power can be restored, thus delaying restoration to unimpacted neighbors.
- Homes that have had water inside them must be cleared by the electrical inspector before they can be restored.
CLEANUP RESOURCES
We are working on Points of Dispensing for Cleanup Kits. This is expected to be the Village of Hesperia, Bridgeton Township Hall, Inspire Church in Fremont, and Love Inc. in Newaygo. We are also working on gaining access to a system called Crisis Cleanup to track requests for assistance cleaning up. Finally, we are working on dumpster locations for cleanup. Please monitor the County Website for this information.
We are currently coordinating the potential locations for dumpster placement in the affected areas.
Call 2-1-1 to report damage or use the Damage Self Reporting Tool
We are asking residents to please report their damage to the statewide damage assesment reporting tool. This information is shared with the local emergency managment officials as well as the state officials. Please visit
https://arcg.is/10ab1j or scan the QR code to access the form.
MUSKEGON RIVER WHAT IS HAPPENING NOW
Three USGS Streamgages are used to determine the river levels.
As of 4:00 pm, the Muskegon River near
- USGS Croton Streamgage was at 11.44 feet with flows at 12,000 cubic feet per second. Flood stage is at 9.0 feet.
- USGS Newaygo Streamgage was at 15.88 feet with flows at 11,600 cubic feet per second. Flood stage is at 11.0 feet.
- USGS Bridgeton Streamgage was at 18.38 feet with flows at 12,500 cubic feet per second. Flood stage is at 13.0 feet.
Current levels can be viewed here: https://water.noaa.gov/wfo/grr
AREAS IMPACTED
- The following areas are impacted by flood waters on the Muskegon River
- Leisure Land Subdivision in Bridgeton Township
- Sycamore Flats in Ashland Township
- 100th Ave in Ashland Township
- Old Women’s Bend in Garfield Township
- Anderson Flat’s in Garfield Township
- Fright Hill in Bridgeton Township
- Homesite Park in Bridgeton Township
- River Ridge in Ashland Township
- Bell Meadow Drive in Bridgeton Township
- Devil’s Hole in Brooks Township
- Sarrell Street in the City of Newaygo
COMMUNITY INFORMATION
- ONLY CALL 9-1-1 TO REPORT EMERGENCIES! Emergency operators and phone lines are needed to support this incident, please continue to monitor Nixle for updates or call 2-1-1 (not 9-1-1) for general safety information.
- ADDITIONAL INFORMATION WILL BE RELEASED! Continue monitoring Nixle, the Newaygo County Website and Newaygo ES’s Facebook Page for additional information.
- THANK YOU FOR YOUR COOPERATION!
