Michigan Dam Failures Force 10,000 To Evacuate And Could Leave One City Under 9 Feet Of Water

Rapidly rising water overtook dams and forced the evacuation of about 10,000 people in central Michigan, where the governor said one downtown could be "under approximately 9 feet of water" by Wednesday.

For the second time in less than 24 hours, families living along the Tittabawassee River and connected lakes in Midland County were ordered to leave home.

The National Weather Service on Tuesday evening urged anyone near the river to seek higher ground following "castastrophic dam failures" at the Edenville Dam, about 140 miles north of Detroit and the Sanford Dam, about seven miles downriver.

The Tittabawassee River was at 30.5 feet and rising Tuesday night — flood stage is 24 feet. The river rose another four feet by Wednesday morning, to 34.4 feet in Midland.

According to the National Weather Service, the height has set a new record for the river, beating the previous record of 33.9 feet set during flooding in 1986.