Court documents damaged during Upper Peninsula flooding

HUBBELL, Mich. (AP) — Officials say court documents were damaged during last month’s severe flooding in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

The Daily Mining Gazette reports a vault flooded containing circuit, family and probate court records on the Houghton County Courthouse’s basement level. The county is insured for the loss and the records are being dealt with by a document restoration company.

The newspaper says an estimate listed more than 3.6 million documents.

Clerk Jennifer Lorenz says that without the hard copies people are unable to get some necessary files if they’ve lost their copies.

Last month’s rain swelled waterways that washed away large chunks of concrete and asphalt, littering roads with debris. Some residents used boats to get around. After the flooding, Gov. Rick Snyder issued disaster declarations for Gogebic, Houghton and Menominee counties.