The Aftermath of the Storm (Again)

From the Editor

By Jillian Manning | April 18, 2026

As I’m writing this, schools across northern Michigan are closed. Dams have failed, people have been evacuated from their homes, roads are washed out, and other critical infrastructure is in danger of collapse.

I’ve spent more than two-thirds of my life in this area, and I’m hard pressed to think of a decade (and change) that has seen more 100-year storms or historic weather and climate events.

There was the straight-line windstorm of 2015. The high-water levels of 2020. The cherry crop failure of 2021 and subsequent years of struggle. The Gaylord tornado of 2022. The wildfire smoke of 2023. The ice storm of 2025. And now a back-to-back blizzard and flooding rainstorms of March and April 2026.

Those are just off the top of my head; I know we’ve seen plenty more. And while we below-the-bridge trolls would never presume to be as hearty as our U.P. neighbors, we are usually pretty good at weathering adversity.

But this feels like a lot. It’s a lot on the shoulders of locals who have lost property and livelihoods. It’s a lot on our local governments, which have to scramble to find resources to address these unexpected catastrophes. And it’s a lot on the nonprofits and grassroots movements that try to fill in the gaps when we’re in crisis.

In that lattermost category, I do think we’ve proven ourselves as hardy as any Yooper. Look at the shelters and food stations that appeared in the wake of the ice storm when people were without power for weeks on end. Up in the Petoskey area, the Little Traverse Conservancy saw a surge in volunteers in 2025 because people wanted to lend a hand clearing trails. After the Gaylord tornado, the Otsego Community Foundation raised $1.6 million for relief, response, and recovery efforts.

So let’s start thinking about those three stages and how we’ll tackle them: relief, response, and recovery.

Right now, we’re still in the relief stage. People in our community need access to food, clothing, and shelter. On-the-ground emergent response often comes from local churches, service organizations, and governments. If you need flood-related assistance and don’t know where to start, you can call 211 or text your ZIP code to 898-211 for community resources and safety updates.

If you are safe, then stay informed. In addition to following local news outlets and updates from first responders, you can find alerts, shelter info, news releases, power outage maps, resident resources, and more at michigan.gov/msp/divisions/emhsd/2026-statewide-flooding.

That website is where you will find more information on state-level disaster relief in the coming days. For example, the Michigan Treasury has already announced that Cheboygan County residents and businesses affected by the flooding can request a tax extension.

You can also do your part by avoiding affected areas. Before getting in the car, check the website and/or social media of your local law enforcement or road commission. At a glance, I saw more than two dozen roads, including some major thoroughfares, closed between Cheboygan and Traverse City.

Once the flood waters recede, then comes response, when we start to plan repairs, raise money, and rebuild. Look to your community foundation and nearby charities to donate dollars or goods, or to volunteer with clean-up. Attend local government meetings to insist we prioritize projects that will help our communities reopen safely. Advocate that we be proactive about future infrastructure issues.

But recovery is the hardest. Within a few days, all of this will be out of the news, supplanted by another emergency somewhere else. Our problems will fade from the minds of the people who aren’t here dealing with them every day just before tourism season arrives with all its attendant pressures.

We have declared local and state emergencies, but that doesn’t mean dollars are instantly funneled toward reconstruction. And as the ice storm has taught us, it can take months and months of lobbying to secure federal aid, if we get it at all.

Disaster recovery is often referred to as a marathon, not a sprint. It is going to take time for us to rebuild our roads and bridges—at least through the summer in the best case scenario. Dams will need serious review between public and private partners. And most importantly, our friends and neighbors will need help today, tomorrow, next week, next month, and beyond.

Let’s do what we’ve been practicing for the last decade and come together in the wake of another devastating storm. We can’t control the weather, but we can control the way we meet this moment with fortitude, generosity, and patience.

The Folded Leaf, a bookstore started in Cedar and moved to TC this spring, is modeling that kind of community response. They’re offering free coffee, tea, and a used book to those directly affected by the flooding, plus free refills for first responders and utility workers. That’s how we provide safe harbor in the storm.

Jillian Manning is a fourth-generation northern Michigan resident and the editor of Northern Express.