It’s been an interesting week here on the Old Mission Peninsula. Ferocious winds pummeled our little Peninsula, causing road closures, trees down, collapsing banks and more.
And if you’re on any of the NextDoor groups for the OMP, they’re filled with all manner of beach things missing and found: dock sections, kayaks, rafts and more. Here are a few storm photos from around the OMP.
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Bluff Road tree and bank collapses. A tree collapsed into East Bay on Bluff Road, about a half-mile south of Boursaw Road. The tree took most of the bank with it, causing erosion along the edge of Bluff Road.
I came upon this scene right after it happened, as a couple of folks from the Grand Traverse County Road Commission were awaiting a truck to come fill in that bank – which happened that same day.
Peninsula Drive closed, then re-opened. The section of Peninsula Drive between McKinley Road and Wilson Road was closed for a couple of days, as water from West Bay washed over the road and into the drainage ditch on the other side.
Here are some photos taken by Pete Meyer as the Road Commission worked to stabilize the area.
The road was re-opened yesterday, so I drove by and took a few pics. You can see where the Grand Traverse County Road Commission put some fill in there, along with a few orange barrels to alert drivers. I’m guessing more needs to be done to “shore that up.”
Haserot Beach disappears. While I was out taking photos, Jon Andrus alerted me that the water was washing over Haserot Beach and taking most of the beach with it. If you’ve been reading the Gazette website or following us on Instagram, you know that much of the beach vanished this summer due to high waters. Now there’s even less there.
Downed power lines on Smokey Hollow Road. If you look closely at this photo, you can see electrical workers in the woods chainsawing trees off of a downed power line on Smokey Hollow Road, about a half-mile south of the Old Mission Road intersection.
Tree down on Smokey Hollow Road. Gazette reader Melissa Weber sent along this photo of a tree down on Smokey Hollow Road, in the tree line near the intersection of Ladd Road. Thanks, Melissa, for being a Gazette roving photographer!
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