Marquette County crews work on roads damaged by severe storms

ISHPEMING, Mich. (WLUC) - On Friday, clean-up continued after severe weather swept across the U.P. Thursday night, flooding basements in Ishpeming and leaving roads across Marquette County crumbling in its wake.

Crews had been working diligently to clean up the damage the severe weather caused to city and county roads. In Ishpeming, a side of Jasper Street was wiped out by muddy water, and the intersection of Ely and First Streets were left crumbling and coned off.

City Manager Craig Cugini said the water infrastructure was working but became overwhelmed by the amount of rain that fell in such a short time period.

“Water took sand, dirt, gravel, and road base out from under the pavement,” said Cugini. “And then, the pavement collapsed.”

Meanwhile, in Negaunee Township, County Road 510 is impassable at the Noquemanon Trailhead, with a large section washed away about two miles past the blacktop’s end. And on County Road 550 toward Big Bay, the highway has been reduced to one lane.

The Marquette County Sheriff, Greg Zyburt, said drivers should be extremely cautious should any more flooding occur.

“When you get any amount of water gathering on a highway or any road, just slow down because you don’t know if that road is collapsed or what’s below it,” said Zyburt.

County Emergency Manager Brian Hummel said there is a lengthy process before any repairs can be done.

“We were working throughout the county this morning to gather all of the information from the impacts that we’ve seen countywide,” Hummel said. “We’ll be compiling that information and sharing that with our partners at the state (level).”

Ishpeming is working with Marquette County Emergency Management to put a disaster relief package together. At the moment, Cugini says full repairs for some of the city’s damaged roads, including Jasper Street, could take as long as a year or more to complete.

“Right now, we’ve done patch and shoring to make sure it’s safe and passable,” Cugini said. “But, the reality is we need to get in and do more significant repairs and management of water overall.”

If drivers run into any road problems after a severe weather event, they can text the word “report” at 906-702-7002.

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