Michigan Flood Victims Say Insurance Was Unavailable or Unneeded
webnewsinsider.com · post 59769 · 2026-06-24
BLACK LAKE, Mich. — John Solum knew flooding. He’d lived through it in Houston. Nothing prepared him for Black Lake this spring.
Knee-high water forced his family to rip out flooring, drywall, furniture, bedding, and appliances from their 1940s-era cabin. They were told they weren’t in a flood zone when they bought the place.
Tom and Diane Peterman tried to buy flood insurance 14 years ago when they moved to their retirement home on the same lake. They were told it wasn’t available. That’s the central problem.
Not the water itself — that was historic. Record April rains fell on record March snowfall.
Dams nearly failed. Roadways washed out. Dozens of Michigan counties declared emergencies.
Floating ice broke apart decks and smashed through windows on Black Lake. “We’ve never seen anything like that. Never,” Solum said.
The real story is what happened before the water rose. Thousands of Michigan residents had no financial protection.
Worse, most had no idea they were at risk. The Federal Emergency Management Agency draws the maps that determine who must buy flood insurance and helps communities plan for floods. Those maps are outdated.
The method itself is arguably outdated. And in less-populated areas — including some Michigan counties that saw unprecedented flooding — FEMA hasn’t developed maps at all.
Black Lake straddles Cheboygan County, which has a 2012 FEMA flood map. That’s the most recent. Twelve years old.
The report doesn’t say what the other county has. The point is clear enough. Experts say this exposes vulnerabilities across the country.
Flood plain maps don’t cover all areas. The federal mapping method doesn’t account for actual risks as climate change increases the odds of more extreme weather.
Think about that. The government tells people whether they’re in danger. The government bases that on maps that don’t cover everyone.
The maps that do exist use a method that arguably doesn’t reflect reality. Meanwhile, the weather keeps getting worse.
Solum and the Petermans learned the hard way. They learned when the water was already in their homes. They learned when they had to tear everything out and pay for it themselves.
This isn’t just Michigan’s problem. The report makes that point explicitly. But Michigan is where it happened this spring.
Black Lake is where the ice came through the windows. Cheboygan County is where the map is from 2012.
The Petermans tried to buy insurance. They were told no. They live on a lake. They knew water could be an issue.
The system still failed them. Solum moved from Houston, a place that knows flooding.
He still got caught. He still believed what he was told about the flood zone. He still ended up knee-deep.
The report doesn’t say how many people in Michigan were uninsured. It doesn’t give a dollar figure for the damage. It doesn’t need to.
The pattern is the story. People trust the maps.
The maps are incomplete. The maps are old. The maps don’t account for a changing climate.
The people pay the price. FEMA is supposed to update them.
FEMA is supposed to help communities plan. In northern Michigan, in less-populated areas, that hasn’t happened. The April rains found the gaps.