Before and After Photos Show Just How Much Broken Dam Drained Lake in Michigan

Devastation followed the failure of two dams in Michigan last week.

The Edenville Dam failure allowed the waters of Wixom Lake to rush down the Tittabawassee River. When the raging floodwaters hit the Sanford Dam downstream, it, too, failed.

The extent of the water that flowed out of Wixom Lake was so great that images showed the lake bed where docks still stood, but without any water around them.

Video and pictures on Twitter captured the extent of the flooding, and what was left behind. The lake was drained to the point where the Detroit Free Press christened it “a giant beach.”

As a result of the flooding, about 11,000 people in and around Midland, Michigan, were told to evacuate.

Beaverton resident Mike Desco admitted he took some persuasion when first told to flee, according to the Detroit Free Press.

“My neighbor, Big Frank, came pounding on my door,” he said. “He said the dam broke and we had 40 minutes to get out.”

“I was like, ‘No, I don’t think I’m going anywhere. I’ve heard this story before,’ ” he said. Then he looked outside and saw the water  rising.

“Then, I heard the fire truck: ‘EEE! EEE! Evacuate! Evacuate!’” he said. “When I heard that, I’m like, ‘Yeah, I think we’ll go.’”

Midland resident Rodney Feinauer said that battling the flood waters was hard work.

“You could hardly row in it,” he said. “I’ve done a ton of rowing in my day. It was intense. But you gotta do what you got to do. It was a little hairy.”

Bev Thompson of Sanford returned from evacuation to a scene she never imagined.

“I just stood there like, ‘Where is my house?’ ” she said. “I see my washer and dryer. But where’s my house?’

“I lost everything,” she said. “I don’t believe it. I’m totally in shock. It used to be right there next to that fence. There’s nothing there. I don’t know where it went. It could be in the woods back there.”