Evaluation of the 2018 “Father’s Day Flood” Using Technology-Based Tools

A federal major disaster declaration was made on August 2, 2018, for the regions affected by the 1,000-year storm on June 17 that yielded nearly seven inches of rain in under nine hours across the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. This event soon became known as the “Father’s Day Flood”. In the aftermath of the storm, the authors performed site inspections to evaluate the resulting culvert washouts and associated damage along the Copper Range and Calumet-Hecla Trails between M-26 and Normand Rd. just north of Lake Linden, Michigan. This trail is vital to the region as it is a main corridor through Keweenaw Peninsula for recreational vehicles (tourism) and provides access to commercial forestry land. Over 160 culverts exist along the 9.5-mile section of trail inspected, and over half were affected by the storm. The use of cloud-based geographical information systems (GIS) mapping software allowed engineers to define specific parameters for condition assessment, record the condition observed at each culvert site, and geo-locate the data in real time. This paper outlines how the collected data was used to determine risk of future failure at stream crossings, assess immediate threats to the surrounding community, and how this workflow allowed the engineers to rapidly perform a data driven cost comparison for remedial work and immediate trail stabilization.