Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
AN IRON County, Wis., worker lifts a dock in the marina at Saxon Harbor Thursday morning so wood debris from the gale storm can be removed and hauled away. The highway and forestry departments were cleaning up the mess.
The clean-up from the gales on Lake Superior continued Thursday morning at Saxon Harbor and Little Girl's Point.
The Tuesday and Wednesday storm resulted in north winds of up to around 50 mph washing debris all along the shoreline. Waves of 20 feet or higher were whipped up by the storm.
At Saxon Harbor, there was a double whammy in the marina area as not only did large logs and debris get blown in from the lake, but Oronto Creek flooded over the access road that leads to the creek mouth.
About a dozen Iron County highway and forestry department workers were cleaning up the mess at the harbor among big boats on Thursday, raising the docks so a Van Epern logging truck could scoop up and carry away the wood waste.
At Little Girl's Point, boating access to the lake at Oman's Creek was closed by the Gogebic County Forestry Department until further notice, according to Amy Hamel, of the forestry department.
Rose Bratu, who lives at the Point, said, "I have lived at Little Girl's Point all of my life and I have never seen the amount of debris on the shore that we saw on our way to work (Thursday) morning. I would never have believed it. Mother Nature was sure having fun."
The parking lot at the boat landing was full of the debris.
The Gogebic County Sheriff's Department received reports of downed trees on Vanderhagen Road, in Ironwood Township, Harding Road, in Bessemer Township, Crystal Lake Road, in Watersmeet Township, and two that were blocking Lake Road in Ironwood Township.
The Gogebic County Road Commission was notified of the reports.
GCRC Engineer Darren Pionk updated the county board Wednesday evening on some of the work delays caused throughout the county by the storm, including projects in the Watersmeet area and culvert replacements on the other end of the county. He said the South Black River Road and Bergslien Road culvert replacement projects had been delayed.
The Maki Creek culvert replacement project near Little Girl's Point, costing nearly $500,000, is still on schedule for later in the fall, but county board members wondered if the ground will be too soft for the heavy machinery if the rain continues.
The storm dumped from 2.5 to 4 inches of rain across the Gogebic Range, on top of 6 inches in the past two weeks.
Saxon received about 3.25 inches.
The official Ironwood National Weather Station at the Gogebic-Iron Wastewater Treatment Plant off Cloverland Drive recorded 2.45 inches for the storm.
The bottom dropped out of the thermometer, as the temperature plunged from a muggy 77 degrees on Tuesday to a frosty 38 early Thursday.
The record low for Sept. 11 in Ironwood is 31, set in 1965.
