SANFORD LAKE AREA STORIES
The Purvis Family
By Olivia Alexander
The perfect house, the perfect lake, the perfect view.
That’s what Angie Purvis thought last fall when her and her husband decided to move their family to Sanford Lake.
In the fall of 2019, Angie and Justin Purvis made a lifestyle change when they chose to sell their house in the suburbs of Midland. The couple and their two young teenagers, Carter and Hayden, packed up their lives and relocated 20 minutes away to live on the lake, a dream for them all.
“As soon as I walked in and saw the view, I was sold,” Angie shares.
The Purvis family bought their dream home; however, because of the recent pandemic their move in date was pushed back numerous times. Unfortunately, the family was unable to move in until the beginning of May, over 6-months after they had purchased the home.
Three weeks later, Angie received a phone call in the middle of the night from her brother-in-law. Immediately, she knew something was wrong; he never calls her. Angie had received the news that the Wixom Dam was breaking, and Sanford’s Dam could be next.
Angie called her husband who was at work and informed him of the situation. She took Carter and Hayden to their grandparent’s house where she knew they would be safe.
Two times the Purvis family was told to evacuate the town and had to go stay at their grandparents’ house. When they returned home that following day, their worst nightmares had come true. The lake was gone.
“We were a lot better off than most,” Justin says, “We were the lucky ones.”
The Purvis family had major damage to their basement but luckily were blessed to receive help early on and were able to rebuild quickly. One thing however that they knew would not be fixed quickly was their lake.
Now whenever Angie glances out the window, all she sees is a dried-up lake. What was once a dream view is now a sight of sorrow.
PHOTOS FROM THE PURVIS FAMILY
Marathon Gas Station
By Keara Chaperon
Heather Ellis and her father Mike Ellis lost almost everything in their Marathon Gas Station in Sanford, Michigan due to the flood that happened in May. The flood affected Sanford and Wixom lake communities as well as parts of Midland. The flood destroyed all their inventory including alcohol, Pepsi and Coke products, and all food products. They also lost their cash registers, counters, and their fuel pumps for gas.
“Luckily the gas underground is good, but we have lost everything and have to start from the beginning,” said Heather Ellis.
The family has been doing almost all the repairs by themselves because they cannot afford to pay someone else for the work. Most of the work has been done by Heather and her father. They have stripped the walls and are sanding them down so they can nail wood up to help with the insulation. The items that will have to pay someone for is insulation, new wiring, and putting in a new furnace.
“We got no help from our insurance company since what happened is technically not a flood, so we have to apply for some loans and hope we get those,” explained Heather Ellis.
They do plan on reopening in January or February of the new year depending on how fast they can put the insulation in and find ways to pay for new inventory. The gas station has been in the family for a couple of years and they plan on keeping it that way. It will take time, but they hope to get their gas station and party store back to what it was.
PHOTOS FROM THE ELLIS FAMILY
Red Oak Family Restaurant
By Megan Doyle
Red Oak is a small family-owned business located right in the heart of Sanford, Michigan. They were one of many businesses heavily affected by the flood in May. Everything inside of the restaurant was completely caked in unpleasant-smelling mud. The water ended up rising to about seven feet.
“We’ve been here for 47 years and never had a drop of water in here. Ever,” said third-generation owner, Melissa Ayotte.
Luckily, the structure of the restaurant was strong enough to withstand the powerful rush of the water from the dam collapse, but everything else has had to be replaced.
“We probably lost a good ten grand in food I’m sure,” Melissa Ayotte said.
Red Oak has received pretty generous donations from GoFundMe and have received a grant from Three Rivers Corporation and the Midland Flood Foundation to help with rebuilding expenses. The Ayotte’s have also put a lot of their own money into this process.
“All of our regulars, all of my friends…there were probably 50 people that showed up on Thursday with dump trailers and everything and the whole place was cleared out within five hours,” said Melissa Ayotte.
Josh Brandt, Midland native and a regular at Red Oak, took time off work just to help out the Ayotte’s during that hectic week in May. He even brought his children to help shovel mud out of the building.
Ayotte explained how the Sanford community has been such a big help and she couldn’t be more grateful for all of the help she has received.
Even though they have been affected by Covid-19 and now the flood, they hope to re-open around the first of the new year and are looking forward to getting back to how things were and serving the community again.
PHOTO FROM THE AYOTTE FAMILY
The Billings Family
By Conor McElroy
Located just a quarter mile from the one of the dams in Sanford, Michigan that failed on May 19, 2020, resides the Billings family. The flood, which forced about 11,000 people to evacuate and caused millions in damage, unfortunately destroyed the home of Chris Billings and his three daughters, Bethann (17), Kayte (12), and Kristiena (10). Chris and his girls were forced to restart from the bottom and build their new home from the foundation up. The flood forced the Billings family into a large trailer camper during the rebuilding process.
Chris is a family man who only wants what is best for his daughters. While the kids are away at school, Chris is working hard on his property to rebuild their home and maintain the land. In no way has restarting after such a disaster an easy task, but with the persistence and determination that Chris holds, it will be done. His daughters, on the other hand, are still kids at heart. They spend their time after school playing on the lot and doing what they can to keep busy with a variety of activities, from painting, fun, physical challenges, or watching TikToks.
“There’s been nothing from insurance,” said Chris. “I’m at a stand still because these guys haven’t helped at all.” The man-made disaster that left thousands stranded with seemingly no answers has not done a thing for the affected communities. “The biggest thing now is the waiting game, we need answers.”
Community Of Christ Church
By Kayla Sondey
The Sanford Community of Christ sits in the heart of Sanford, vacant as of now, due to the floods this spring that devastated much of mid-Michigan. The church has been active for over 60 years, but wasn’t fully functional due to health department regulations and the Covid-19 pandemic.
“It was kind of a blessing in disguise,” says Elder Pat Sibbald. “Our kitchen wasn’t up to code, so we couldn’t do any food drives anymore. Then the flood came and now we can update our kitchen.”
For now, the congregation meets to worship every Sunday in the dining hall of a campground owned by the church. Until construction ceases and the insurance company gives the okay, the church is too dangerous to set foot in.
The waters reached over 5 feet high in the sanctuary, breaking windows, destroying holy items and mementos, and even leaving fish and seaweed strewn about. “We had an amazing group help us clean up,” says congregation member Ron Gregg. “A group of Amish and Menonites came and set up in our parking lot, they fed us and helped clear out all the trash that was in there [the church].”
Costs to renovate the church estimate over $100k, but not everything can be replaced. “What we really need are sentimental things, like prayer shawls, Bible story books for the children, and greeting cards. Some of the items that were lost, we just can’t get back.” Says member Lisa Valentine-Cummings. The kitchen alone is estimated at around $43k to renovate up to code, but the church remains hopeful because they have been “saving our funds for a rainy day,” according to Pat Sibbald. “And we sure got it!”
No matter what challenges the church is facing, members are finding hope and comfort in each other and God, no matter where they worship.
PHOTOS FROM THE COMMUNITY CHURCH
The Murphy Family
By Makenzie Shubnell
Just nine years after a house fire caused Sean Murphy to move into his home in Sanford, a flood displaced him from it. Now living with his dog Layla in a camper outside the house, Murphy is slowly but surely rebuilding what he had before the flood that devastated thousands in the Mid Michigan area last May. The dam failure on Wixom and Sanford lakes displaced many whose homes were impacted by the flooding, including Murphy, who was given a glimpse of hope just a bit too soon.
“On the news they said it was fine, dams are safe, they won’t break…and then the alarms went off again and the fire trucks started coming and people started running through the yards telling us to get out,” Murphy said. “They said this whole place will be under water in 15 minutes.”
Luckily, the neighborhood had a bit more than 15 minutes to evacuate, but when they returned to their homes, the damage was immeasurable. The water in Murphy’s home came up to three feet and left the streets and driveways covered in a layer of slick mud. Murphy’s neighbor, Kim Twarozynski attested to the severity of the lake’s debris.
“We were covered in mud for months,” Twarozynski said. “We started giving ourselves monikers like ‘flood zombies.’”
The lack of media exposure has left flood victims like Murphy and Twarozynski feeling forgotten since the disaster nearly six months ago. Even directly after the flood, Sanford was a town largely impacted, yet scarcely covered.
“I was surprised how much the news didn’t really cover too much,” Murphy said. “I don’t think people knew the scope of the damage. A lot of my friends that I don’t talk to that often would say ‘oh I didn’t realize it was that bad over there,’ but they don’t really realize…my home is gone.”
Since the Sanford Dam failure, Murphy has been slowly recovering, now in the process of moving from his camper into his detached garage for the winter. Soon, builders will begin working on his home’s renovation, with Murphy hopeful that it will be completed sometime in the next year.
PHOTOS FROM THE MURPHY FAMILY
Sanford Eagles Club
They host dinners for Thanksgiving, Mother’s Day. They give out scholarships to local students. The Sanford Eagles club, post 3677, has been in and around the community of Sanford for decades. And following the massive flooding of May 19, 2020, this club, which has done so much for the community of which it serves, was damaged almost totally. The bones of the building were all that remained - with over 42 inches of water entering the building, they had to gut the place entirely.
A senior member of the club, Doug Rytlewski, estimated the damage to be around $200,000. And not only did they need new walls, equipment, etc., but they also had to rebuild their club to be up to code, making for a long and arduous process. A process of which was made even more difficult when they were denied their application for a small business loan in October, and received nothing from FEMA. Their contributions came exclusively from members of the Fraternal Order of Eagles and the work is entirely volunteer.
These Eagles, committed to their community, feel as though their hands are tied: “We can only do so much,” said Duane Wolfe. “This is all volunteer work and community contributions.” But in a community that is already suffering so much, each with their own battles, they can only give so much to each other.
The Perrin Family
When 9-foot floodwaters filled Thomas and Haley Perrin’s home in May, they spent three nights in a hotel before moving into Haley’s parents’ garage.
The couple will be living in the makeshift living space through the winter as they are expecting their daughter to be born the first week of December.
“We’ve made the space feel like more of an apartment than a garage at this point,” Haley said. “A lot of our habits have carried over to this place, and we are making it work.”
The Sanford Dam could be seen from the front porch of the Perrins house near the Tittabawassee River.
The night before the dam broke, the Perrins and Haley’s sister Paige Fryzelka were told to evacuate the area. The couple expected the flooding to be minimal, so they only grabbed a few changes of clothes and their laptop which had all their wedding pictures.
Nearly everything the Perrins owned remains in the mud-covered house.
It wasn’t until the next day after seeing national news coverage that the Perrins decided to revisit their home to see the extent of the damage.
“We couldn’t get in, because there was still too much water around it,” Haley said. “When we finally got in, it was pretty bad. There was mud all over the walls and the kitchen was torn apart.”
The Perrins received $97,000 from their flood insurance to cover the foundation of the house. However, it is not enough to completely pay off their home and rebuild especially with new safety measures, Thomas said.
The Perrins only lived in their home in Sanford for a year and half. Haley said that was the “upside” of their situation.
“We didn’t have a lot invested in our home. We didn’t raise our kid there,” Haley said. “Other people had their whole lives demolished by flood waters.”
The Perrins still recognize the significance of the event as they recover day by day.
“We lost part of our present and out immediate future in the water,” Thomas said.
By Drew Travis
