Kickstart: The flood's toll beyond Dow

When the Tittabawassee River flooded on May 19, most of the attention went to Midland, Mich., and Dow Inc.'s headquarters operations in the city.

Luckily, although the river crested 11 feet above flood stage in Midland and some water commingled with Dow's retention ponds, the news out of Midland wasn't as bad as it could have been.

But it still made a big impact.

Bruce Meyer, editor of sister publication Rubber & Plastics News, has a firsthand account from Charles Lenk, vice president of Laur Silicone Inc. in Beaverton, Mich. Lenk and his family went from a home on Sanford Lake to a home where his pontoon boat sits flipped over on a piece of mud that used to be Sanford Lake.

The water that made up Wixom Lake overwhelmed the Edenville Dam and poured downriver into Sanford Lake. Part of the Sanford Dam failed as well, and the water from both lakes swelled toward Midland. Lenk and his wife had only minutes to evacuate.

"By the time we got out, which was a matter of 15 minutes at most, there were firetrucks going through the neighborhoods, screaming at people to get out of their houses. It was utter chaos for a while," Lenk said. "It's like something you'd see in a movie."

Most of the village of Sanford was destroyed, including restaurants and shops.

The Fieros Forever museum opened in 2006, a labor of love by Tim Evans, an architect with a big fondness for the Pontiac Fiero, a sports car made by General Motors from 1984 to 1988. The Fiero was expected to be a way for plastics to break through in the auto industry, featuring composite body panel and pop-up headlights.

It retained a pop culture status long after it went out of production with fans like Evans. But as Evans neared retirement, he decided to sell his cars and parts. An auction was set for April 2020. As the coronavirus spread, the auction was rescheduled to July.

Then came the flood.

"While the Fieros Forever location had seen some minor flooding in the past, nothing could have protected it from the powerful waters from two back-to-back dam failures," the Evans family wrote on a GoFundMe page seeking donations to help the family recover the costs of cleaning after an 8- to 10-foot wall of water hit Sanford.

"The walls are blown out, his prize engine that was to be a centerpiece of the auction was swept away and his kit cars and Formula 1 car are scattered all over downtown. All cars are severely damaged and will have to be marked as salvage titles."

And now for something quite a bit lighter.

Like everyone else out there dealing with co-workers spread across different cities, states or even countries, M. Holland Co. wants employees to still feel like they're part of a team.

M. Holland also, apparently, has access to people with clever video editing skills and an appreciation for the television series "The Office."

So earlier this month, the company posted a lip dub video of its employees copying a segment from the sitcom. Enjoy.

My apologies to the fine folks at Regal Plastics and Southeastern Plastics. Both companies are involved in producing protective equipment. I got details from the two companies mixed up in my notes for Wednesday's Kickstart.

The blog has been updated.