
Bob Berg
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At Duluth's Canal Park, the Lake was turned brown by the flooding of feeder rivers like the Nemadji River on the weekend of June 15-17, 2018

National Weather Service
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The National Weather Service in Marquette posted a graphic to show the effects after the June 15-17, 2018, flooding.
Flood, Then Mud: The edges of Lake Superior, mostly along southern shores, came up a little muddy this week. The mud follows the torrential rains that caused major road and other damage, with in parts of northern Wisconsin and in the Houghton/Hancock area of Michigan’s
Keweenaw Peninsula hardest hit. Around the far western fingertip (or wolf nose) of the Lake by Duluth and Superior, the waters turned brown from the river runoffs (seen in the Thursday photo above), espeically from the swollen Nemadji River. The muddy waters are not surprising since a stalled cold front cranked the weekend’s moist, unstable conditions into frequent showers and storms over three days. Some of that extra moisture, turns out, came from the moisture generated by Hurricane Bud from the Gulf of California. NASA’s Earth Observatory showed the mud flumes into the Lake four days after the storm and also on Earth Observatory, Joshua Stevens, using satellite imagery, created a detailed illustration of the muddy Bois Brule River and other tributaries affecting Lake Superior. Some recent rain tallies from the National Weather Service stations in Negaunee, Michigan, and Duluth show the extent of the inundations. In Wisconsin, Drummond totaled 15.04 inches of rain over three days from June 15-17, Brule tallied 10.73 inches while Odanah on the Bad River Reservation logged 7.16 inches during that time and nearby Ashland logged 6.36. In Minnesota, Two Harbors had 6.06 inches over the three-day period and Cloquet logged 4.52 inches. See other Wisconsin and Minnesota region tallies online in the “rainfall” folder. In Michigan, totals for a period from Friday evening through Sunday morning showed 6.72 inches for Hancock, 6.30 inches for Houghton and 6.22 inches for Laurium. Others are shown online under “rainfall.”

Michigan State Police
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Michigan State Police did an aerial survey of damage in the Keweenaw Peninsula following the Father's Day weekend floods June 15-17, 2018. Here at Torch Lake near Hubbell, the water overflowed leaving mud and water damage.
After the Floods: Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker declared a state of emergency for Ashland, Bayfield, Burnett, Douglas and Iron counties after touring flooded areas Monday, and Michigan Governor Rick Snyder did the same for Houghton and Menominee counties on Monday and later included Gogebic County after touring flood-damaged areas Tuesday. Damage in the two areas is estimated in the millions, with Hancock alone estimating $9 million in damage. The Michigan National Guard pitched in to assist the area’s recovery and the Michigan State Police created a flood website with updates and news items. State Police Aerial Survey images, like this photo at Torch Lake near Hubbell, can be found at the National Weather Service Marquette website. There were three tragic deaths linked to the flooding and storms. A 12-year-old boy died from injuries suffered when the basement of his home collapsed during flash flooding in Houghton. His father dug through the debris to reach him, neighbors brought a boat to get the child through the waters to an ambulance, and the boy was airlifted to Ann Arbor but died the following day. A GoFundMe campaign started for the family raised more than $90,000 in three days to cover costs, including his father’s injuries. In Ashland County in Wisconsin, a 75-year-old man was found dead 60 feet from his pickup truck in a ditch where floodwaters reached 6 to 8 feet on the driver’s side of the vehicle. In Sawyer County, Wisconsin, a man died when an oak tree blew over onto his camper. A woman and two children in the camper suffered non-life-threatening injuries. Houghton County has at least 60 sinkholes or washouts and underground sewage and water lines were exposed. There are maps showing road closures in northern Wisconsin specific to flooding and for Michigan, a MDOT map shows all closures or detours, including the Keweenaw Peninsula.
Concerns for both the Wisconsin and Michigan flooded areas are that images of raging waters will deter this summer’s tourism, a mainstay of local economies and critical to recovery. That should not be the case, local tourism promoters say. Despite the serious nature of road
damage from the flood, travel was restored to the main highways (sometimes via detours) by Thursday in northern Wisconsin and the Keweenaw Peninsula. “The only thing people should expect is potential detours on the way,” says Bob Gross with the Bayfield Chamber and Visitor Bureau. Bayfield itself suffered little effect from the flood, he says. There are no highway problems coming from the east into the Bayfield Peninsula communities. Coming from the west, there is now a short detour onto County G off Highway 2, where there was major damage near Iron River. Another suggestion is to take the beautiful Highway 13, closer to the Lake though slightly farther than along Highway 2. The expected higher traffic did cause organizers of Saturday’s Superior Vistas Bike Tour to cancel for this year, since the tour crosses Highway 13 twice. The wooded route, however, is a pretty one. “It’s part of the Lake Superior Scenic Byway,” Bob adds. “It’s just a beautiful drive.”
In the Keweenaw Peninsula, Dianne St. Amour, president of the Keweenaw Area Chamber of Commerce, emphasizes, “We are open for business” with travel accessible “from Florida to Copper Harbor.” She praises her community, commenting on the quick and ready response of volunteer neighbors, “whole communities coming together as one. … You’re going to see us bounce back faster than anywhere. … We’re Copper Country strong.” While some ATV trails remained unopened near Houghton this week, the major trail systems for hiking, biking and ATVs remained open around most of the Keweenaw. “Keep your reservations,” Dianne quipped.
Among upcoming events still “on” in flooded areas: The next free Tuesday concert in Bayfield’s Memorial Park by the waterfront will be the Liz Woodworth Trio (the side photo shows an earlier concert there). The Bayfield Race Week regatta has 60 boats registered for the July 1-6 event. In the Keweenaw, the 65th Copper Country Firefighters Tournament will be Saturday in Chassell and the Copper Country Strawberry Festival will be there July 6-7. All the flood-challenged areas continue to plan their usual July Fourth celebrations.
Select Realty
Big Bay Point Lighthouse Bed & Breakfast
The Big Bay Point Lighthouse Bed and Breakfast inn offers amazing lakeshore views in Michgan's Upper Peninsula.
New Keeper at Big Bay: Nick Korstad is a young fellow, but a seasoned restorer of lighthouses. In 2010, he bought Borden Flats Lighthouse in Massachusetts (in photo at side) for $56,000 in 2010 at public auction. Repair costs were estimated at $300,000 to $400,000, he
old The New York Times, so he did the work himself instead for about $30,000 (and about three years of labor) and operated it as a bed-and-breakfast. Nick, an Oregon native, also worked for Marriott and has an affinity for that business, too. Now he’s left Massachusetts for Michigan to take over the Big Bay Lighthouse Bed and Breakfast in the Upper Peninsula. Unlike at Borden Flats, Nick won’t need to renovate the 1896 Big Bay Point Lighthouse into B&B shape. The lighthouse was converted to an inn in 1986, but has been on the market through Carol Brady at Select Realty in Marquette. The tower of the red building rises 120 feet above the Lake, and the unusually spacious keepers quarters below now houses nine bedrooms and 8.5 bathrooms. The 3.5 acre property features 670 feet of frontage, a 1,000-square-foot fog house, a concrete pier and gazebo. Nick has bought and sold several lighthouses and owns Spectacle Reef Lighthouse on Lake Huron, 11 miles east of the Straits of Mackinac.
Moose 911: A moose and ambulance collided early Wednesday as Superior North Emergency Medical Services paramedics were returning to Armstrong, Ontario, after delivering a patient to
Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre. The front of the vehicle was smashed and the two paramedics received minor injuries, reported TBNewswatch. The moose walked onto the roadway in front of them around 5 a.m. “Both paramedics appear to have only received minor injuries, which is very fortunate considering the extensive damage the vehicle received and the collapsing of the windshield onto the paramedics in the front of the cab at the time of collision,” Wayne Gates of Superior North EMS was quoted. The crash happened on Highway 527, according to the CBC News. A Superior North media release said the $140,000 ambulance was heavily damaged and “appears to be a write-off.” Less than a month earlier, another Superior North EMS ambulance collided with a moose May 26 while while transporting a patient on Highway 11 from Beardmore to the Nipigon hospital, causing only minor damage to the vehicle and no injuries. There was no word about the moose in either accident.

TODD MARSEE
Tasty Fishy: This is the season of angling without gloves and Beth Dooley, our Recipe Box contributor for Lake Superior Magazine, has some tasty options that aren't fancy fussy. The one pictured here was "invented" by Todd Marsee when he was a visiting artist in residence at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. Todd's day job is as a graphic designer for Michigan Sea Grant and he also created some amazing images during his stay there. Check out Beth's story, Surf Over Turf, for Todd's "Broiled Lake Whitefish with Pesto & Oyster Mushrooms" (it's as easy as you'd expect a campfire concoction to be) plus a Smoked Lake Herring Spread by Marie S. Fegley of Duluth and a Sesame Fish Sticks recipe.
Sending Culture to France: It seems only appropriate that the Stone Bridge Singers, an Ojibwe drum group from Grand Portage, Minnesota, get a chance to showcase their culture at a French festival called Musique Entre Pierres, or Music Between Stones. The international music event is in July in the Pyrenees. But first they must raise $20,000 airfare for the members of the drum group plus dancers and chaperones, reports Rhonda Silence for WTIP. One fundraiser has already taken place and another is scheduled for 5 p.m., July 5, at the Grand Portage Community Center with Indian tacos and bucket raffles. WTIP posted a video of the drum performing on YouTube.
Photo & graphic credits: Bob Berg; National Weather Service; Joshua Stevens / NASA; Michigan State Police; Bob Gross / Bayfield Chamber and Visitor Bureau; courtesy Select Realty; courtesy Big Bay Lighthouse Bed and Breakfast; TBNewsHour; Todd Marsee.