- change ups Seawall Project Protects Large Area GRAND RAPIDS —
Last week, after nearly two weeks of daily rain and several
severe thunderstorms, the Grand River was swollen and more rain
was forecast. According to the National Weather Service, the
river rose to 15.3 feet Sunday, May 23. The next day, it was at
16.7 feet and rising. The river reached 19.5 feet Thursday, May
28, one-tenth inch below its crest in its flood of exactly a
century ago. Upstream and downstream of Grand Rapids — in
Comstock Park, Plainfield and Robinson Townships — flooding
began weeks ago. Luckily for central Grand Rapids, the Kent
County Drain Commission and city of Grand Rapids in the year
2000 finished a six-year, $13 million project to improve and
restore the river’s floodwalls and embankments. The program
involved 22 projects and incorporated a handful of other
construction contracts. “It was quite an extensive project
within the city limits,” explained Rick DeVries of the City
Engineer’s office. “We extended the concrete flood