Storm cleanup continues
January 3, 2009
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December 29, 2008 – (The Holland Sentinel) -- The cleanup continued Monday after a weekend of wild weather flooded basements and blew down power lines.
The rain and melting snow on Saturday, Dec. 27, also caused an overflow at Holland’s wastewater treatment plant.
About 400 gallons of untreated sewage - about the capacity of a small hot tub - overflowed into Lake Macatawa and Macatawa River, according to the Holland Board of Public Works.
BPW Communications Specialist Andree Keneau said the overflow occurred at the wastewater treatment plant about 1 p.m.
In June, heavy rains led to 100,000 gallons of untreated wastewater spilling into Lake Macatawa.
Keneau said that the BPW expected to spend about $3,000 to pay staff for overtime worked during the past weekend due to the storm.
Many homeowners reported water damage to basements.
Del Dozeman of ServiceMaster in Holland said his crews had worked 12-hour days Saturday and Sunday, cleaning up water damage all over West Michigan.
“One person had 5 feet of water, to some who just had wet corners of rooms,” Dozeman said.
Dozeman said he had crews working at locations from South Haven to Grand Haven and Grandville.
“It ranges from a little puddle to the whole basement being under water,” said Brandon Buchholz, production manager for ServPro of Holland.
Buchholz said that it’s best to call in a professional cleaner if there is water damage to a finished basement or a carpet.
“Just a cement and cinder-block basement - that’s something you should be able to handle yourself,” he said.
Residents also lost power due to wind storms on Sunday, Dec. 28.
The Holland Board of Public Works had several small outages affecting about 250 customers, Keneau said.
“We fared better than much of the state,” she said.
About 1,400 Consumers Energy customers - 140 in Ottawa County and 1,300 in Allegan County - remained without power as of 4 p.m. Monday, Dec. 29, according to a company release.
More than 4,400 customers in Ottawa County and 2,000 customers in Allegan County also lost power temporarily due the wind storms.
A total of 183,000 Michigan customers’ power was affected due to the windstorms.
The rain and melting snow on Saturday, Dec. 27, also caused an overflow at Holland’s wastewater treatment plant.
About 400 gallons of untreated sewage - about the capacity of a small hot tub - overflowed into Lake Macatawa and Macatawa River, according to the Holland Board of Public Works.
BPW Communications Specialist Andree Keneau said the overflow occurred at the wastewater treatment plant about 1 p.m.
In June, heavy rains led to 100,000 gallons of untreated wastewater spilling into Lake Macatawa.
Keneau said that the BPW expected to spend about $3,000 to pay staff for overtime worked during the past weekend due to the storm.
Many homeowners reported water damage to basements.
Del Dozeman of ServiceMaster in Holland said his crews had worked 12-hour days Saturday and Sunday, cleaning up water damage all over West Michigan.
“One person had 5 feet of water, to some who just had wet corners of rooms,” Dozeman said.
Dozeman said he had crews working at locations from South Haven to Grand Haven and Grandville.
“It ranges from a little puddle to the whole basement being under water,” said Brandon Buchholz, production manager for ServPro of Holland.
Buchholz said that it’s best to call in a professional cleaner if there is water damage to a finished basement or a carpet.
“Just a cement and cinder-block basement - that’s something you should be able to handle yourself,” he said.
Residents also lost power due to wind storms on Sunday, Dec. 28.
The Holland Board of Public Works had several small outages affecting about 250 customers, Keneau said.
“We fared better than much of the state,” she said.
About 1,400 Consumers Energy customers - 140 in Ottawa County and 1,300 in Allegan County - remained without power as of 4 p.m. Monday, Dec. 29, according to a company release.
More than 4,400 customers in Ottawa County and 2,000 customers in Allegan County also lost power temporarily due the wind storms.
A total of 183,000 Michigan customers’ power was affected due to the windstorms.
