Six Mile Lake Members and property owners,
This is an update from the post you received earlier. Six Mile Lake continues to rise. The lake was 14 inches over average yesterday. Overnight it rose to 20 inches over average according to the measuring device placed at the north end of Six Mile Lake. The DNR public access remains closed due to dangerous wash out conditions. Echo Twp Park is closed but may open prior to the holiday. There are pontoon boats with dock sections attached floating down the lake. Several areas of roadways are washed out.
What can we do? More rain is expected. High temperatures continue. The holiday is coming and Six Mile Lake is the busiest the month of July. No matter these conditions people will want to be on the lake having fun. We all want to be on the lake having fun. Unfortunately ALL of Six Mile Lake shorelines are underwater by many feet. Wave action from boats pulling tubes and skiers will result in more damages and more saturated shorelines dropping into the water. But we can still enjoy the lake by keeping boats in the middle of the lake and away from docks and shorelines and traveling at no wake speed as much as possible until conditions improve. It’s up to all of us to educate friends and neighbors about the situation here and encourage them to respect the current conditions of the lake and the property owners who are affected by the 4 plus inches of rain that swelled this lake to dangerous levels. Remember, Six Mile Lake has 68 tributaries that drain into it, about three times more than Torch Lake, which is why Six Mile Lake continues to go up when other lakes are going down. Amazingly, St. Clair Lake, our sister lake to the north is high but homes and the culvert hasn’t flooded yet.
The video above is of my house when the water broke over Six Mile Lake Rd and headed into my back yard. This happened all over the county. However, it gives you a clear picture of the amount of water traveling into Six Mile Lake in just a two hour period of time.
The next post will address the Bellaire Dam issue. Charlevoix County board of Commissioners has decided to put this on their agenda for next week. All are encouraged to attend.
PLM has had to delay treatment because of the DNR fish count and now the rain and flooding.
Ellsworth is having their fireworks on July 3rd.
Two positions are open on the Six Mile Lake Association board. Contact us if you are interested in serving your lake community.
Ladies of the Lake meets the first Tuesday of every month year round at 10am at The Front Porch Restaurant in Ellsworth.
We now have an active Facebook page and join up for that and join up for these news posts at sixmilelakeassociation.org. Sign up on Paypal to automatically pay your dues yearly. You can also text me at any time for updates on conditions here.
Happy 250th birthday to this great country. God bless the United States of America and God Bless all of us who live on Six Mile Lake!
Cherie Hogan
Communications/Membership