According to Midland County officials as of ~3pm (EST) 5/20/2020, the Sanford dam may still be somewhat intact but they can't tell because it's underwater (they're using the term "failed" because it's spilling over, not necessarily because the structure has collapsed). Latest images of the Sanford dam appear to show overflow limited to the emergency spillway area. The current hope is that the dam itself will hold long enough for the upstream flow from the Wixom lake breach to recede. If the Sanford dam fails, areas downstream are looking at 500-year flood levels. Local and state police have already begun staging in a number of downstream areas, presumably to facilitate evacuations if the dam fails.

You did an amazing job pronouncing names of these rivers and lakes not being from Michigan.

I live here in Michigan and I'm so glad you're covering this I like the way you covered the Oroville Dam and I believe you'll do a good job giving us the facts on this one keep up the good work

I found your channel when the Oroville Spillway Failed and followed all your great coverage, never would have expected to be following your channel for a dam failure in my back yard. Thanks for all the good info through the years, I look forward to your info on this failure as its close to home for me.

Made more sense than any coverage I've seen thus far. Thanks Juan.

I'm glad you are covering this Juan!...not seeing much coverage on it... I'm definitely interested in this!...thank you very much! 😊😊

Always the insightful and FACTUAL information. No drama, just the cold, hard truth

This is only the beginning of this country's failed dams. Most have been neglected for sooooo long its insane.

Step aside ABC, CBS, NBC. Juan Brown has the story covered like a blanket. After watching the main networks with reporters on scene I had a vague idea of the situation. Then I watched Juan and got the most updated story from 2000 miles away!!

Seriously....most excellent coverage, explanation, visuals concerning this unfortunate situation 👍

Juan Brown: The best dam reporter on KZfaq!

I am from Michigan so have been paying attention to all of this coverage. Thanks for being factual in your reporting (been following you since Oroville). There are a lot of people being critical of officials and engineers etc. about this and it is often left out of reporting that in essence these emergency spillways did function as intended: they gave people time. Although the photo/videos are shocking to see, all the residents had plenty of warning and I don’t believe there has been a single fatality. As for the emergency spillway capacity, I don’t know to what level they were designed for. We had an unprecedented amount of rain with huge portions of that watershed getting over 7 inches of rain in the hours/day preceding the flooding (falling on already saturated soil). I don’t know if any reasonable level of emergency spillway capacity would have been able to handle that volume of water. Just my two cents. Thanks for being straightforward and not rushing to criticize or blame. Keep up the good work.

The best dam coverage available. Seriously. I,m in michigan and have been searching for informative reporting and you provided the best i've found. Thank you. I to am wondering about the chemical plant. Luckily my sister and her family recently moved from Midland. Prayers going out to all the people in that mess.

Juan, Thank you for this report. My sympathies to the residents of the affected areas. God bles Paul (in MA)

I thought of you as soon as I saw this yesterday! So glad you are covering

I came several years ago for your motorcycle vids, stayed for the aviation vids, and now your infrastructure vids. Nice work, and thank you for your analysis.

Thank you, this was very educational for those outside MI trying to understand and keep up with this story. Praying for all those impacted.

Thanks Juan , I have a sister that lives In Midland and get reports from her . They had a record flood back in 1986 and this flooding will probably break that record by at least 6 to 9 feet higher. Thankfully she is safe where she lives in town, all our prayers are going out to the families affected by this heat breaking event. Your Orville damn videos gave us alot of great info about dams and their structures. I also am a furloughed pilot. 777 & 767's

Juan, I live 20 minutes from there. It's a privilege to have somebody who knows what the heck they are talking about report on it. I only sustained a wet basement. Nothing compared to the folks east of me. Thanks again for your focus on this. (And all your other fantastic coverage.)

The only good thing about disasters is hearing Juan review each event accurately and in detail.

It’s worth restating: privately owned dams. And safety hazards known and unaddressed for years. “Mid-Michigan dam that failed was cited for years for safety violations. MIDLAND - The owner of a Gladwin County dam that failed and prompted widespread evacuations Tuesday was cited repeatedly by federal officials for safety violations, including failing to fix spillways used to prevent flooding, ...”

I've been reading through the comments and would like to thank all those who live in the affected area for the updates. And please GET OUT OF THERE! Stay safe everyone!

Heard about this yesterday but I was waiting for Juan to gives us the facts rather than listen to the news.

Routine complacency. A term often experienced but seldom explained. Juan could explain it much better than I can.

Been waiting all morning for your report Juan. Thanks. Looking at the photos from Michigan in comparison; we got lucky back in 2017. Oroville Emergency Spillway could have gone so wrong. 🤪 Prayers for everyone back Michigan.

More worried about DOW Chemical. There’s a huge chemical production dual plant area down stream of all of this. I literally just picked up a load there on Monday night. And it was raining 🌧 like Noah’s flood on Monday evening about 18:00 🕕

I have friends, who live in Michigan. I am praying real hard, for their safety and well being. I have shared your update with them, and many others. I will continue to share any future updates that you post. Thank you!

OMG Juan! I live in Michigan and this is the first I have heard about it! You are a national treasure. Thank you so much!

Thank you for putting this together. I was hoping to hear from you on this. You did such a fantastic job on the Oroville spillway and dam issue!

When i saw this on the news today i was hoping for one of your updates, and here it is. :)

Wow. I lived 54 yrs of my life in that area. Spent many days on Wixom and Sanford lake. Great Walleye and bass fishing on them and the Tippy river. Midlands just a great fun city. So sad to see all this happening!

Mr. Browne; I must admit that I am startled at your depth of understanding. I didn't expect a zoomie to have such a rich understanding of hydrology. I tip my hat, sir.

Great coverage and information Juan, as always! I have built a few small earth-filled dams. The first rule the old engineer gave me was that you never have the emergency spillway on any part of the earth-filled dam. He said if the spillway is part of the dam and it fails it could take out the dam. I was standing on the side of a small dam that I had constructed when it was overtopped by water. I ran to get out of there as the dam was collapsing. If my memory serves me right the dam was gone in about a half-hour!

Best wishes and sympathy from Houston. From our Harvey experience I know flood recovery takes years. Not worried. You guys are tough.

Looking forward to your factual updates - you are quite the authority on earth dams now!!

I decided to wait for this video before reading or watching any news coverage, this is the most informative channel with accurate data and analysis...Thanks Juan

Thanks, Juan. As we say in Idaho..."All dams will fail, some sooner than others."

Another great report. I hope that the people in Michigan are viewing this.

Thanks for covering this. I've spent a lot of time up near Sanford (live in Lapeer, MI). They've got a helluva mess up in that area. Good explanation of dams, spillways, etc.

Fantastic work, sir! I have been a fan of your channel for a long time, I love the objective and professional way you comment on aviation accidents. Being a resident of Midland, MI, and luckily having (narrowly) escaped damage to my property, I was pleasantly surprised by you commenting on this disaster! All the best.

Thanks Juan, another great job of reporting. The main stream media reports have been absent enough details to give us a total picture on what is happening with no specific info on the dams themselves. I did see one report that all the dams in that watershed were listed as significant hazards. But no details on why they were so designated. Keep up the excellent reporting!

The Northern part of lower Michigan (West Branch, Tawas, etc.) had just received between 5-8" of rain the night before.

Thank you for clarifying "overwhelm" versus "failure." Similar but very different. I am in Georgia and to hear NBC News, they made out like the dams just crumbled. Your explanations is clearly understandable in terms of what happened and WHY it happened. Prayers for everyone impacted by this act of Mother Nature.

Thank you Juan for excellent coverage of the failure of these over ninety year old dams.

For a professional airline pilot... you cover some really awesome and out of the box topics Juan!!! Thank You!!!

Hey Juan outstanding job as always. I live in Midland and this is a sad deal on top of everything else. Keep up the awesome coverage you do on all the subjects you talk about. I've lived here all my life and you just taught me a lot of things I didn't know👍🏻

I heard that these dams had deficiencies since 2011, the company responsible for these deficiencies is Boyce Hydro.

I have been a fan of your channel for a while. Cool to see you cover something from where I’m from.

I live 2 blocks from the tittabawassee river in Freeland and for me to get from one side of the river to the other, it's almost a 2 hour drive. All bridges crossing the river have been closed until they are inspected. Flooding has devastated Midland and shields. Videos of the lakes being emptied within hours is eerie to look at. I think the evacuation and warnings were well done from what I know and have seen. I thought you were from michigan, most people cannot pronounce the names of these areas unless your from here. Great job.

Your content is simple but very knowledgeable and entertaining. Keep up the great work

Thanks for looking into it Juan. The aftermath of this will be interesting in regard to the damage of course, but longer term if these are even rebuilt or not.

Juan, as usual better coverage than our local news in Michigan. I sail off the Clinton River at the Northern end of Lake St. Clair. Our docks were raised six inches as they flooded out last season. Today, May 20th, the hard deck was four inches above the water. Lots of keel clearance this season.

I was hoping you would make a video. After a long day at the hospital. Your videos make my night!

You rock Juan! Always great and timely information.

Thanks Juan for doing the research on this and getting the word out! I swear there ought to be a Pulitzer Prize for best reporting on the internet, and you should be the first recipient :)

I went to college in Midland, MI at Northwood University. It’s bad. Few friends around that area and lots of homes have sustained significant flooding as well as homes washed away. 3 dams failed, Smallwood, Edenville, and Sanford.

First I've heard of this. Thank you. Watched all you Oroville coverage as well. Good job

Saw this video as a recommendation to watch and immediately said that sounds like something blancolirio should cover. Without realizing it was your video.

Ooh been waiting all day for your take.

Thank you!!! I am in Michigan (near Detroit though) and am finding your description and explanation better then anything I have seen locally. I didn't want to watch the local news coverage where they exaggerate, toss in 42 commercials, maybe a cooking demo and then go political before returning to what the heck happened in Midland. So again, thank you for your video!

I knew you'd be right on top of this, Juan- thank you!!

oh boy, I hope everyone living in the area next to those dams are okay. You guys up there in the US need to have a serious talk about infrastructure and maintenance...

WSJ: Failed Michigan Dam Lost License in 2018: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission cited operator Boyce Hydro Power for safety concerns www.wsj.com/articles/regulators-pulled-license-of-failed-michigan-dam-in-2018-11589994661 “The area had been experiencing heavy rains from a slow-moving storm in recent days. By 11:15 a.m. local time Wednesday, the Tittabawassee River level was at just under 35 feet-higher than its record 1986 crest, according to the National Weather Service.”

Saginaw, MI resident . . . .thank you for explaining and showing. Prayers to all.

Hey Juan, thanks for reporting on this one , these are about 2 counties SE of our house up here in Michigan. I watched and have been checking in about Orroville since it happened. Thanks AGAIN !

Juan, you didn't mention the expansive Dow chemical plant that sits on the Tittabawasse, just southeast of Midland. The plant employs several large production "ponds", also sitting on the river.

Juan, You the go to guy for interesting technical details. Also love the new mic and the COVID-19 hair too.

Thanks for the explanation and update, Juan

I always come to your channel when I need this kind of information. Thanks again.

Thanks from Michigan for covering this! 👍

I was hoping you would post something on this. Day one oroville follower here. We know about our earth filled dams 🙌🙌🙌🙌. Thanks juan

Thank you for covering this Juan!!

Great reporting! I live about fifty miles south of all of this. It’s becoming quite a problem up there. Thank you Juan!

I find it funny that Blancolirio has become my dam expert ! But glade he is.

Also enjoyed the meteorological field trip with u & Pete!

Excellent reporting as always Juan! Just the facts, with very thoughtful visuals for us desk jockeys. Thanks, and wishing you and your family to stay safe!

Our family has had a cabin on this river system since 1956 (ours is on Secord Lake, the uppermost of the four dammed reservoirs). I have closely followed the legal proceedings that came to a head in 2018 when the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission revoked the license for the failed dam held by the owner of all four dams, after more than a decade of violations. The operator was clearly negligent, driven most likely by the poor economics of hydroelectric power generation in the face of cheap natural gas. When the license was pulled, a task force was setup that drove the creation of a special taxing district that was to assess property owners on the four lakes in order to finance a bond issue to acquire, improve, maintain and operate the four dams. At the same time, FERC ordered a drawdown of the lakes in late 2018 to inspect the spillways to ensure they were sound. They passed and the lakes were returned to their mandated levels (each lake has a very narrow water level range mandated by the federal government). Meanwhile, though facing much local resistance, the tax district was created and pushed forward to acquire the dams and the lakes themselves. Though an agreement was apparently reached earlier this year, the deal was not expected to be completed until 2022. Now, this. Bottom line, the feds were pushing for improvements for years and finally acted. Unfortunately, the 500 year flood they were seeking to protect against happened just two years later. If anyone is to blame, it is Boyce Hydro, owner of the dams, and the local communities who enjoyed the recreational and economic benefits of four wonderful all-sports lakes and were blissfully ignorant of the risk inherent in their local treasures. In closing, there are a lot of emotions locally and a lot of political accusations being made nationally surrounding state and federal responsibility and our crumbling infrastructure. This is not a Republican or Democratic thing, It is a human nature thing that makes clear humans are not perfect, which is why we need to be diligent in keeping a close eye on the things humans do.

Best (dam🤔) coverage on this incident 👍

Great video! I hope everyone was able to get out of the way of the floods.

Juan, Great production of the story. I hadn't heard about this one, but so often I get news 1st on your channel without the non-sense and just enough tech stuff that I won't often hear on the big media! Thanks! p.s. I rode my KTM 500 on some tech stuff today in E. San Diego. I've been riding my Levo on so much cool stuff that I've left the KTM idle.

I live in Midland, roughly a mile from the Tittabawassee River. Over 11,000 people evacuated in roughly an hour without a single death or serious injury. Impressive work by our county officials.

Hey Juan, on these rivers with multiple dams, is the last one in the line engineered to higher specs in case an up stream dam failure happens?

Last report I heard - as of noon today (5-20), reporting from Jackson, MI, many miles from the affected area - the Edenville dam failed sometime yesterday after an inundation of 8"+/- of rainfall on top of already saturated ground. That dam had been previously cited as "inappropriately maintained" (read:NOT) as recently as 2018. Apparently it has completely failed. The lower dam - Sanford - has been "compromised", but has not failed completely. Even given that, the city of Midland is expecting something in the neighborhood of 9' of flooding in the central business district. The Sanford dam was also cited in the 2018 survey, but to a lesser extent than the Edenville dam. So far, it seems to be holding, albeit at a degraded capacity. The city of Sagnaw is next in line to get the flooding - no word as yet regarding what they are expecting...

Thank you for all this great information I live in Midland Michigan and it is a big disaster so many homes lost and thank God no lives were lost love your channel ✝️✝️✝️🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

My family lost everything from all the flooding. My Grandpa's brother and sister in law barely got out in time because they are in their 80s and don't move very quick. A farmer saw them and jump into his $500,000 brand new tractor he got delivered last week and got them to safety. Thank God there are still amazing people like him. The water level is 10ft high on the outside of the house and my grandpa's sister and brother in law weren't home when it flooded but there home is no longer there got washed away by the water.

This is just an exclamation point of the need for an infrastructure upgrade across all of America.

I just wish that you could fly the mighty luscombe up there and get the real report! 👍😁

Excellent job Juan, best report I've seen of this disaster so far.

I was waiting for your video on this!

Thanks for your coverage. Surprised to see you covering this then remembered your Oroville coverage near your home. Please keep up with Dow Chemical Company and it’s Superfund Site which is imperiled by this 500 year flood. I have family in Midland but they’re not under evacuation orders.

Thank you. I didn’t realize the emergency spillways were designed to fail, slowing the total release of the reservoir’s water.

I found this channel years ago because of the dam in California and stayed for the aviation videos.

I have been following you sense 2017 during the Orrville disaster. Thank you for covering this situation. I work for a Fire Department in Saginaw County (Bridgeport Fire Department ). We provided assistance to the Tittabawasee Fire Department in Freeland. We also had a Blackhawk helicopter and two A10 warthogs fly over today along with multiple fixed wing aircraft. Not to mention all the other helicopters. This is a once in a lifetime incident.

Need better infrastructure folks!!! Less frou-frou! Similar issue with the Oroville dam that had deferred maintenance.

Great video and thanks for the information. Hope to see more videos of you back to flying those were my favorite

Watched so much of your Oroville coverage I came right to your channel! Never imagined you would cover something so close to my home. Good job on the pronunciations! Who coached you?

Our country really needs to work on our infrastructures. To many of them need work.

Thank you Juan for this great coverage and information.

Was waiting for you blonc! Thank you

We have had record breaking rain in northern Illinois.