Whitmer: I told Trump I'd accompany him on tour of Michigan flooding

May 22--During a pandemic and a day after one of Michigan's worst floods, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and President Donald Trump seemed to set aside deep partisan differences and agree on one thing: The state's residents need more help.

Trump granted Whitmer's request to declare the flooding an emergency, a crucial step in getting federal assistance for the 10,000 residents who were evacuated, losing homes, vehicles and electricity.

The governor, who has been a frequent target of Trump's tweets and criticism, also said that if the president were to later tour the devastation in Midland, she agreed to accompany him.

Whitmer reiterated that Michiganders are living through tough times, but need to remain vigilant -- and helpful -- especially during the upcoming Memorial Day weekend.

"If you know someone who has been impacted, please reach out," she said, referring especially to the mid-Michigan residents whose lives had been turned upside down. "This is truly a crisis in the middle of a crisis."

Her comments -- amid partisan clashes in the state and nation -- seemed like a brief moment of unity between a Republican president and a Democratic governor who is considered by pundits as a possible running mate for former Vice President Joe Biden.

Whitmer had sent Trump a letter late Wednesday, formally asking him to declare an emergency after a deluge of rain led to the failure of two dams, putting Midland underwater.

And just hours after arriving at Detroit Metro Airport aboard Air Force One to visit the Ford Rawsonville Plant near Ypsilanti, the president announced he had agreed to Whitmer's request, declaring a state of emergency for Midland County.

The president's order authorizes the Federal Emergency Management Agency to "coordinate all disaster relief efforts" in order to "save lives and to protect property and public health and safety."

But, Whitmer's remarks Thursday also made more than a plea for help to recover from the flooding. She also made a case for rebuilding Michigan's infrastructure, not just the "damn roads" -- a slogan she campaigned on -- but "dams and roads."

National Weather Service and U.S. Geological Survey maps of high river water levels throughout Michigan still showed the potential for flooding throughout the state, including flood warnings on rivers in southwest Michigan, and a lakeshore flood warning in Wayne County.

More rain -- what meteorologists said Thursday appeared to be spring showers as opposed to the heavy recent downpours -- is forecast for the weekend and next week.

But the prevalence of high water, combined with llong-standing concerns about aging infrastructure, underscored the governor's message about what was needed to protect Michiganders.

"The fact of the matter is," Whitmer said, "we have underinvested over a period of decades in this state," adding that "we all pay when infrastructure fails, that's why we've all got to be a part of making sure that doesn't happen."

Whitmer said because of the extensive damage and ongoing nature of the disaster, cost estimates of the flooding damage could not be completed, though earlier calculations of a failure of the Edenville Dam were estimated at nearly $890 million.

Still, the devastation goes beyond money.

Amid a pandemic, thousands of people in Midland -- the home of Dow Chemical -- have no homes to return to. Some residents even slept in their cars to keep from being infected with coronavirus.

Midland's Grace A. Dow Memorial Library is flooded. The city's Pontiac Fiero museum is gone. And floodwaters have mixed with containment ponds at the vast Dow chemical plant.

On top of that, Whitmer pointed out there are "hundreds of dams," "thousands of bridges," including some that were wiped out in the flooding, and "roads that are filled with potholes."

"This," she said, "is what I have been trying to fix."

Reports dating to 2016 confirm Michigan needs investment in infrastructure -- not just roads and dams but water and sewer systems, drains and stormwater systems, broadband and communication systems, and electricity and natural gas networks.

Moreover, Whitmer said she welcomes cooperation from the Legislature and the federal government to re-invest in infrastructure, but took aim at private ownership of the two dams that failed, Edenville and Sanford.

Boyce Hydro Power owns both dams, and federal regulators revoked the hydropower generating license for the collapsed Edenville Dam in Midland in 2018, citing years of failure by the dam's owners to address safety problems.

Still, Whitmer said her first priority is to help people who have lost their homes, praising first responders, National Guard, volunteers and singled out a generous Michigander who offered their Up North cottage for a family who had been evacuated to use.

She urged that residents continue to take precautions to protect themselves from the coronavirus, including wearing masks, keeping a 6-foot distance from others -- and washing their hands.

"We don't want the spread of COVID-19 to grow, especially in a region where we've had to move people so much," she said. "Take care of yourself and seek the help that you need."

Contact Frank Witsil: 313-222-5022 or fwitsil@freepress.com. Washington correspondent Todd Spangler and staff Writers Bill Laitner and Keith Matheny contributed.

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