Father of 3 moving into new home one year after flood
Click here for updates on this story
VILLAGE OF SANFORD, Michigan (WNEM) — A man and his three daughters have a new home after his was destroyed last year. When floodwaters caused by the two dam failures submerged the village of Sanford, his new home was built with community support.
“It’s really nice to call it home,” said Chris Billings.
Billings is finally able to call somewhere home nearly a year after his life changed drastically.
“Chris’ house was more or less destroyed by the water,” said Dolores Porte, the village of Sanford President. “We ended up having it demoed.”
The Edenville dam failure in Sanford left him and his three daughters living first out of a camper and then a hotel.
“You see it everywhere else, but I didn’t think it would happen to us here and it did,” Billings said.
“This is really a great moment to see Chris back in his home,” Porte said. “There were many, many people who helped Chris and I and United Way and Habitat.”
He’s moving in just before the flood’s one-year anniversary.
“It just shows how fast we can move as a full community,” Porte said.
It’s a happy time for the Billings family but the past year was tough. The community support and his three girls are his support system.
“That’s the thing that kept me going was my three girls,” Billings said. “For the longest time, that’s what it was. Just me and my three girls.”
Now Billings and his three girls have room to grow.
“There’s a lot more room, yeah,” Billings said.
Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.
