Heavy Rains Kick Western Football Game Into Next Day
KALAMAZOO, Mich. (WWJ) - An unusual amount of rain falling on the west side of the state Saturday - enough to send at college football game into Sunday play.
The Western Michigan football game against Akron was postponed on Saturday due to flooding in their stadium from heavy storms.
Western Michigan v. Akron Football game postponed to 1 PM Sunday, Oct. 15 due to heavy rain fall & lightning in Kalamazoo. @ESPNCFB #MACtion pic.twitter.com/QPCADJjwcS
— Western Michigan Football (@WMU_Football) October 14, 2017
Late afternoon the college called the game -- the Herculean effort to make the field playable included pumping over 1 million gallon of water out of the stadium in under 2o hours.
What a beautiful site!! Over 1 Million gallons of water pumped off the field last night & today. WMU vs. Akron is a go. 1 PM #LetsRide pic.twitter.com/xqKnF3fE06
— Western Michigan Football (@WMU_Football) October 15, 2017
"The heaviest swath of rain fell from northern Barron County in the St. Joe, Benton Harbour area -- kind of east, northeast through Laughton and over toward Kalamazoo -- the highest total that we've seen is up around 8.5 inches," said Bob Dukesherer senior forecaster with the Grand Rapids Weather Service.
He says eight-inches of rain in one night is "extremely rare."
The Broncos fell just shy of win against Akron when the game was played on Sunday -- losing 14-13.
The CBS 62 First Forecast is calling for dry conditions this week -- get Traffic and Weather on the 8s only on WWJ Newsradio 950.