July storm top story of 2016

Editor's note: The Daily Globe is counting down the top stories of 2016. This is the top story of the year.

By RICHARD JENKINS

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Few people, if any, can remember a storm quite like the one that hit the Gogebic Range on July 11.

Residents of Gogebic and Iron counties awoke the morning of Tuesday, July 12, to countless toppled trees, damage to homes and cars, flooding, numerous road washouts cutting off access to residents near Lake Superior, a destroyed Saxon Harbor and a respected member of the community dead.

The thunderstorm hit the area as early as 7:30 p.m. on Monday, July 11, dropping up to 14 inches of rain in some parts of the area.

Ultimately, Bessemer, Erwin and Ironwood townships, as well as the city of Wakefield, reported damage in Gogebic County; while the towns of Oma, Kimball, Anderson, Saxon and Gurney sustained damage in Iron County.

The damage included a confirmed EF1 tornado - with wind speeds of up to 90 mph - in Bessemer Township, as well as unconfirmed reports of a tornado in Oma, Wis., and in Erwin Township. Wakefield sustained wind damage, knocking down trees and causing damage, including tearing the roof off of Chiefs Ice Arena and sending it into Sunday Lake.

Lake Road at Little Girl's Point washed out in numerous places - including the bridge over Oman's Creek - cutting off people living or staying at the Point, a situation that would exist for several days after the storm until the Gogebic County Road Commission could reopen the road. Powers and Brace roads also sustained damage, further isolating Point residents.

Power was also knocked out in various areas throughout the Gogebic Range, including in Wakefield.

In Wisconsin, flooding caused washouts on Wisconsin 122, Wisconsin 169, County A and County B, as well as town roads in Kimball, Anderson, Saxon and Gurney. The washouts not only cut off Saxon Harbor, but also the town of Gurney. Other counties in Wisconsin sustained washouts similar to those in Iron County, including the flooding of the Bad River and Denomie Creek in Odanah that closed U.S. 2 in Ashland County.

The closure of U.S. 2 forced drivers to make a lengthy detour through Mellen, Glidden, Hayward and Trego - a journey that took three to four hours.

In addition to the road washouts, the storm also caused Oronto Creek to flood into the county park at Saxon Harbor before flooding and destroying the marina, sweeping boats, wreckage and silt into Lake Superior. At least 29 boats are believed to have floated out of the harbor during the storm, with 17 washing up on the nearby shoreline. Almost all the boats remaining in the harbor were damaged, some severely.

The debris from the harbor spread far out into Lake Superior, forcing the Michigan Department of Natural Resources to issue a warning to boaters in the Ontonagon area. Debris from the harbor - an Iron County Forestry Department pontoon barge - was sighted as far away as the western coast of the Keweenaw Peninsula, roughly 90 miles northeast of Saxon Harbor.

The biggest loss during the storm was the death of Mitch Koski.

Koski, a former mayor of Montreal and county board member, was a caretaker at the county park along with his wife, Kathy.

Koski's truck was swept away in the flooded Oronto Creek at the harbor and recovered the following day. While Koski would be the only death caused by the storm in Iron and Gogebic counties, there were other close calls - including when Gogebic County Sheriff Pete Matonich narrowly escaped his vehicle before it was swept away.

Three more people would die in the storm, with another death coming July 18 after a woman drove around several barricades and into a 50-foot deep washout.

The recovery and rebuilding process began July 12 as authorities began the process of checking on stranded residents, temporary repairs being completed to reopen roads and evacuations as necessary.

Both Iron and Gogebic County officials declared a state of emergency July 12 as a result of the damage, with Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker declaring his own state of emergency for the eight counties impacted by the storm the same day.

Walker traveled to Iron County that Tuesday for a helicopter tour of some of the damaged area.

Rebuilding efforts continued in the days following the storm, with Gogebic County Road Commission reopening the bridge at Oman's Creek Friday, July 15, allowing the first cars to leave Little Girl's Point since the storm.

That Friday also featured the news Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder declared a state of emergency for Gogebic County, a measure that not only expanded the funding possibilities for the recovery, but allowed the deployment of Michigan National Guard soldiers to help with the rebuilding effort. Snyder toured the storm-damaged Point on Monday, July 18.

The deployment of National Guard, which featured around 40 members of the 1432nd and 1430th Engineering Companies, marked just one of the outside agencies that arrived in the area to help with the recovery.

The Coast Guard arrived from Duluth in the days immediately after the storm to help monitor the cleanup effort at Saxon Harbor to mitigate pollution efforts. The team remained overseeing operations at Saxon Harbor until July 21.

Members of the Wisconsin National Guard's 950th Clearance Company were sent in early August to help the cleanup effort at Saxon Harbor, as part of a larger deployment to the impacted counties.

July 20 and July 21 saw a second storm hit the Gogebic Range, toppling additional trees, knocking out power to around 20,000 Xcel Energy customers - primarily in Ashland, Hayward and Ironwood areas - and worrying nervous residents who were still on edge from the previous storm.

County officials declared a new state of emergency for the towns of Anderson, Knight and Oma following the second storm.

A storm on the evening of July 21 hit Ontonagon and Houghton counties hard. There were many trees down in the village of Ontonagon, cutting power there, as well.

The recovery effort continued into fall, with both Lake Road and the final Iron County road closure - Wisconsin 169 in Gurney - reopening Nov. 18.

While these road openings largely signaled the successful completion of the repairs to the road washouts in Gogebic and Iron counties, the rebuilding of Saxon Harbor has yet to be begun in earnest.

The Iron County Board of Supervisors did vote at its Dec. 20 meeting to rebuild Saxon Harbor to its pre-storm state, rather than alter the design.

The vote allows the county to move forward with hiring an engineering firm and beginning the actual rebuilding process in 2017.

As the recovery from the storms continued, the focus began to shift to costs and how repairs will be funded.

Representatives from the Federal Emergency Management Agency arrived in Iron County July 26 to assess the damage in Wisconsin, with the potential of having it declared a federal emergency. This declaration came Aug. 9.

That declaration allows Iron County to be reimbursed for 87.5 percent of the costs for eligible projects, with 75 percent coming from FEMA and 12.5 percent coming from Wisconsin Emergency Management.

Initial repair costs in Iron County were roughly estimated to be $14,171,720, however that number would decrease as time went on. While the final number is yet to be settled, the most recent assistance figures expected for Saxon Harbor are $2,198,178. This includes FEMA and state assistance for the rebuilding of the marina and dredging efforts. The aid to rebuild the harbor's campground is still being determined.

In Michigan, preliminary reports put damage totals to county roads at roughly $5.5 million. This year's costs were eventually set at $2,097,192. Gogebic County Road Commission Engineer-Manager Darren Pionk said an additional $750,000 in work is planned for 2017.

While the Michigan portion of the storm didn't receive a federal emergency declaration, the road commission will be reimbursed 80 percent of the costs from the Federal Highway Administration. Various municipalities in Gogebic County also received up to $100,000 in reimbursements from the state for qualifying storm-related costs.

Saxon Harbor isn't the only sign of the storm still visible on the Gogebic Range, with a number of snowmobile trails still damaged. The bridge over Mud Creek on Trail 160 in Ironwood Township is expected to remain closed until February.

Given the continuing nature of these repairs, the after-effects of this storm are likely to continue to make headlines through 2017 and into the future.