9 & 10 News February 24, 2021 Construction crews began a drawdown of the Tobacco River spillway in Gladwin County on Wednesday. The drawdown is a critical step in progressing with repairs and helping the Mid-Michigan area recover from historic flooding. Back in may an overtopping of the Edenville Dam and failure of the Sanford Dam led to the devastating floods. Homes and businesses were wiped away and the floods caused millions of dollars in damage. Water flowed through the Edenville Dam complex Wednesday morning for the first time since May’s flooding. “What you’re going to see is a slow dewatering process. Approximately 1 foot per day is going to be lowered from the upstream side to allow equalization of pressure and again to take the pressure off the other side of the Tittabawassee River, the M-30 bridge project,” said Dave Helmstetter, Construction Manager with AECOM.