Skip to main content

Michigan Country Concert fans told to forget their cars until Wednesday

You can see the lawyers SWIMMING up the river!
This is a REALLLL mess...thousands go to a free country concert with Blake and Julianne and the river rises to take their rides! Here's the latest on the story:

1st the basic story:Thousands of people at a country music concert in western Michigan were stranded in flood water this weekend.The Grand River rose so high on Saturday that it cut off exits at a county fair ground where the radio station B-93 was holding a concert in the town of Ionia.

The Michigan State Police evacuated the area and forced people to leave their cars in the field.There have been no reports of major injuries, although emergency crews did treat more than 12 people for minor injuries.

Weather forecasters said heavy rains Friday night caused the river to flood.

Now the latest: 4pm central Sunday:

B93 Birthday Bash cars
stuck til Wed.

Attendees evacuated, cars abandoned

Updated: Sunday, 21 Jun 2009, 4:23 PM EDT
Published : Sunday, 21 Jun 2009, 10:16 AM EDT

IONIA, Mich. (WOOD) - It could be mid-week before hundreds of cars trapped by water at the Ionia County Fairgrounds are able to be removed, according to officials from Ionia County and Clear Channel Radio.

Thousands of people were trapped when water from the Webber Dam was diverted due to the torrential rains Friday night. The Ionia County Fairgrounds flooded early Saturday evening, forcing the evacuation of the concertand an emergency shelter set up.

There are at least several hundred cars trapped south of the Grand River, and another 100 or more in other spots, said Tim Feagan, the vice president of Clear Channel Grand Rapids, and Jason Eppler, the Ionia city manager.

The river won't recede until around Wednesday, and the city is working on a plan with Clear Channel to help get the cars out, Eppler said.

"Around 4 a.m. Saturday, the National Weather Service said we were in a safe place," said Feagan, adding he was told the river would crest around 13.5 feet. "We were in good shape."

Officials were in touch with Consumers Energy employees about the dam in Lansing, Eppler said.

"I think there was some conversations with public safety personal and reps from Consumers," he said. "Just as water came up here, much faster than we anticipated, I'm sure that happened upstream for Consumers as well."

Consumers Energy representatives told 24 Hour News 8 they had to release the dam in compliance with federal and state laws.

"The problems that took place on the south lot began around 11:30 a.m. We stopped parking cars and brought gravel in to stem the water," one said. "We hoped that we'd be able to bring in enough gravel, but the water overtook us."

Said Eppler: There was an "ongoing evaluation beginning Friday evening. We did not want to risk personal safety. We collectively made the decision. The river came up much higher than even the National Weather Service anticipated."

He understands "that people want their vehicles, and we're working to get them out as soon as possible, but we don't want to rush it either. We don't want to put them in an unsafe situation."

The latest information on the car removal will be posted on b93.com , Feagan said.

"It doesn't make sense to point fingers," Eppler said. "It was just an act of God."



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Luke Bryan Reigns At Spring Break Panama City

Luke Bryan's Spring Break...Here To Party Tops Billboard's Country and Top 200 Sales Charts NASHVILLE, TN – Country superstar and 2013 Academy of Country Music Awards show co-host Luke Bryan has topped the Billboard Country sales chart and earned his first #1 album on Billboard's Top 200 chart with Spring Break...Here To Party, selling 149,515 units in its first week. This is the first full-length physical album released from Bryan's five-year "Spring Break" series. The 14-track album features two new tracks as well as a collection of songs from his previously released digital "Spring Break" EPs - 2009's Spring Break...With All My Friends, 2010's Spring Break 2...Hangover Edition, 2011's Spring Break 3...It's A Shore Thing and last year's Spring Break 4...Suntan City. Though the album didn't include a radio single, Bryan did release a video for "Buzzkill," one of the album's new tracks, which can
Kenny Rogers featured in Billboard’s 50 th  Anniversary of Adult Contemporary chart   Rogers’ Ranks Sixth-Best All Time and Fourth-Best Male with 28 AC Top 10 hits Nashville, TN (August 25, 2011) – According to Billboard, Kenny Rogers’ 28 Adult Contemporary Top 10’s are sixth-best all-time, and fourth-best among men, trailing only Elton John, Neil Diamond and Elvis Presley.  Kenny Rogers' feats on the AC chart include 47 hits, tying him with Barry Manilow for seventh-most in the chart's history. No core country artist has crossed over more titles to AC. Rogers has scored eight AC No. 1s. Rogers: "I remember when [the AC charts] were established, I thought it was so cool. I've always been a believer in the strength of the song. My problem is I'm a country singer who's had a lot of other musical influences, so my stuff is going to tend to be more AC. That's always been my slam in country music, that I was never a true country artist, even though &q

They call her..The Bare Naked Bandit..29 yr Old Lee Grace Doherty

ARRESTED now in Colorado...but what a story and week for 2 brothers and their stripper sister! Text messages and tweets by three fugitive siblings who shot at a police officer and robbed a bank reveal a dangerous mindset and a firm bond between the siblings, "We've certainly seen their mindset when... They shot at a law enforcement officer outside of Tampa Bay, Fla., and when they fired inside that bank in Valdosta, Ga. But these additional texts and tweets have given us additional insight," FBI Special Agent Stephen Emmett told "Good Morning America" today. " We are concerned and feel that they are going to continue and cause problems to say the least for law enforcement." Ryan Dougherty, 21; his sister Lee Grace E. Dougherty, 29; and half-brother Dylan Dougherty Stanley, 26, have been on the lam since Aug. 2 when they shot at a police officer attempting to pull their white Subaru Impreza over for speeding. A few hours later, they robbed a bank in G