Shooting the Flood

By Ariniko O'Meara
Posted February 27, 2018   |   Previous Entry   |   Next Entry




The greater Lansing area has had some extreme weather so far this year. We had a pretty warm January by mid Michigan standards. Then February came and with the calendar change came the snow. We had multiple snow days without much break. Out here in Haslett we measured over a foot of snow. It didn't take long for the weather to warm back up again which caused all that snow to melt. Then it rained. For a week the weather apps notified me of multiple rivers flooding. As photos started rolling in from friends struggling to keep the water out of their homes, I knew this was serious. I headed out to some of my favorite photography spots to capture the extent of the flooding.

My first stop was in Old Town. I shoot in Old Town all the time. It's one of my favorite senior portrait location. The Grand River runs through this area and as much as it's a gem for this area it also posses flooding risks.





Further south up the river is downtown Lansing. I shoot for Riverwalk Theatre and they were under the flood threat. I stopped in there to check on them and offer help if they needed it. Luckily for this location the crest of the river wasn't enough to make it into the businesses in this low lying area, including Impression 5 Science Museum, R.E. Olds Museum and Riverwalk. I made my way down the river trail as far as I could, which wasn't very far. I headed to higher ground and walked over to the Lansing Center and Lansing City Market, both of which are riverfront property.





My final stop was at a river trail parking area that has a boat launch. Aurelius which has Kruger Landing is east of downtown but also on the river. At this part of town the river is the Red Cedar that flows from East Lansing. I was greatly surprised at how much extra water was at this location. The large parking area was 75% flooded. By the time I walked around for about an hour and returned to leave, the city had blocked this parking area off. The river trail also meanders through here although from the photos you can't really tell. The entire trail, including the two walking bridges here were completely underwater.









As of Monday the waters have receded. Many local businesses and residents now have the daunting task of cleaning up the destruction caused by this massive flood. I have no doubt the community will come forward to assist with this task and soon all will be back to normal with only the photographs to remember it by.