Dear Editor: This past weekend the Boothbay Region Travel Basketball program hosted what we hope to become an annual tradition, the “Kings Of The Court” junior high boys basketball tournament. Teams competing included Boothbay, Brunswick, Camden.
Wetlands Can Help Prevent Property Damage and Save Lives During Floods
Midland and other cities were hit hard by a flood caused by of a weak dam.
More than 2,500 homes were damaged. There was an estimated $245 million dollars in property damage.
If that flood happened a few years ago, the damage could have been worse. But, there’s been a change. One thousand acres of restore wetlands helped reduce the severity of that flood.
The story began with heavy rainstorms. We’ve been seeing more of those in recent years because of climate change. The Great Lakes region is seeing more intense rainstorms. Storms that were once considered 100 year events or even 500 year events are happening somewhere in the basin every few years now. Climatologists predict we’ll see more and heavier storms in the decades ahead.
Devastating Midland floods would have been worse were it not for the sponge-like properties of a newly-restored wetland along the Shiawassee River. As climate change brings more intense rainstorms to Michigan, the incident is an example of how wetlands could help mitigate flood threats.