Kali Katerberg/Daily Mining Gazette The view from atop an old rail grade above Ripley, estimated at 100 feet high. The mostly rock grade partially failed in the June 17 flash flood, sending rock down the hill. It has since been removed.

RIPLEY — A domino effect involving factors such as old rail grade failures, a deluge of stormwater and plugged culverts led to the dramatic damage in Ripley from the June 17 flood and another flood on July 12.

“There were a lot of factors that played into where things failed, and that could be just the volume of water coming through,” said Jeff Kakuk western Upper Peninsula trails specialist for the state Department of Natural Resources (DNR). “A (old rail) grade failure above, that impacted the next grade, which impacted the next grade.”

In some places one grade would fail, in others all three came down with a variety of derbris depending on the location of the failure.

“In some cases debris and tree root systems started to come down from above and just compounded the situation,” Kakuk said.

Damage and pressure built up toward the top of the hill, only to cause more failures as materials came rushing down to the homes at the hill’s base.

The partial failure of an approximately 100-foot-high rock rail grade above Ripley could have set things in motion, said Franklin Township Supervisor Mary Sears.

“When it washed down, it had so much pressure behind it, and it came up and excoriated those runs that the ski hill had made going across,” she said.

From there the rock came down, filling culverts until they gave way themselves and sending the rock and silt through homes, across M-26 and into the Portage.

Steve Casey, project lead for the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), echoed Sears’ thoughts.

“Father’s Day, we got the big rain and a culvert clogged on Mont Ripley. So the water, instead of going to Ripley Creek, which is a nice rock channel, instead went along the slope and eventually caused a big erosion problem,” Casey said.

The rocks, debris and dirt plugged the creek, as well as the underground culvert near Second Street in Ripley, which had 150 feet uncovered by the water.

Similar scenarios played out down the road from Ripley in Lake Linden and Hubbell, although the 100-foot grade above Ripley was perhaps the most dramatic example.

Fortunately, the grades were mostly earthen, using sand and smaller rocks rather than the large rocks composing the grade above Ripley.

“Just drive around, and you can see there were impacts all over the place. As far as grades like that one there was nothing…that was that dramatic, but there are other grades that are very tall,” he said.

The DNR, DEQ and volunteers have already put a dent in clearing culverts and reducing risks to residents but the work goes on.

“Our focus right now is protecting life health and safety,” Casey said.

TOMORROW: Steps have either already been taken or planned to prevent and minimize repeat flooding.