Power restoration estimates extended into next week after another line of thunderstorms passed through Lenawee County Thursday morning.
Northwest and northern parts of the county bore the brunt of the storm damage, said Lenawee County Emergency Management Coordinator Craig Tanis. While some people thought a tornado may have passed through, Tanis said damage assessments showed straight-line winds were to blame for all of the downed trees, branches and power lines.
Most of the damage came from the line of storms that passed through Thursday morning, Tanis said.
Consumers Energy's online outage map showed more than 225,000 of its customers statewide were without power Thursday afternoon. Its crews and well as those from other states were working to restore power from waves of storms that swept through the state starting Tuesday night.
"More than 550 Consumers Energy crews and contractors and line workers from seven states are collaborating in the restoration effort, speeding the response time to one of the 10 largest storms in company history," a message on Consumers' online outage center said. "Additionally, resources were pre-staged for this event to ensure quick response and 24-hour coverage."
The out-of-state assistance came from as far away as New York state, Tennessee and Missouri, Consumers said in a news release.
Many outages in Lenawee County were shown on Thursday afternoon with restoration times on Monday, Aug. 16. Tanis said the hardest-hit areas were in Woodstock Township including Addison and Cement City, and the outage map confirmed that, with multiple outages.
The reason for the long restoration times was because several transmission lines were damaged, and those have to be fixed before lines in neighborhoods can be repaired, Tanis said, based on information provided to him by Consumers.
Other clusters of outages remained in the Tec*mseh and northern Raisin Township area, the north side of Adrian, east of Britton, between Adrian and Palmyra, and in Medina, Fairfield and Riga townships.
Midwest Energy & Communications almost had all of its outages repaired Thursday morning before more storms hit.MEC reported after those storms thatabout 3,500 of its customers were withoutpower. As of 11 a.m., MEC crews had found 24 broken poles "along with an overwhelming amount of downedpowerlines and tree damage."
At 4 p.m., MEC said 2,100 of its customers still were without power. The utility cooperative said progress making repairs was slow "due to the significant, widespread damage.
Statewide, utilities reported almost 900,000 people without power, including about 600,000 served by DTE Energy in the metro Detroit area.
In Adrian, Island Park was closed Friday because of a downed power line.
Communities also began announcing storm cleanup information. Tec*mseh said residents may place fallen tree debris between the sidewalk and street by Monday, Aug. 16, to be picked up by city department of public works crews.
Deerfield posted online that residents should place all limbs in a pile by the road so that village crews can pick them up.
In Onsted, village officials reminded residents that brush should be stacked neatly between the curb and sidewalks with the cut ends of the brush all facing in one direction. Branches should be no longer than 4 inches in diameter and no more than 6 feet long. Stumps or logs must be cut by the homeowner and must be no more than 100 pounds. Brush piles must be kept away from fire hydrants and utility polesand must be a safe distance away from pedestrian or motor vehicle traffic. Brush should not be tied together or placed into bags. Yard waste such as leaves, grass clippings, small twigs, pumpkins, flowers, roots or other commonly thrown away yard waste will not be picked up. Debris that does not meet the village’s criteria for free storm damage pickup will be left uncollected.
Onsted residents candrop off their leaves, minor brush and grass trimmings at the wastewater treatment plant, 8657 Slee Road. Proof of residency is required. The site is open from 8 a.m. to noon on Saturdays and 5 to 8 p.m. Wednesday. It will be closed if it rains hard for a prolonged period of time on a normal day of operation.
Though the temperature and heat index were both in the 80s wth 70% humidity Thursday, Tanis said there were no plans to open any cooling centers in the county. He said when the county had made cooling centers available in the past, they were rarely used.
"We haven't had luck with that," he said.
He attributed that to Lenawee County being a more rural area where people are used to being prepared to deal with such problems, either through self-reliance or with the assistance of friends and family.
Evidence of that was seen Thursday morning at the Lightning Quick gas station at the intersection of M-50 and M-52 as several people filled gas cans to fuel their generators at home or work.
The same is true in the winter, if there are power outages, Tanis said. People have not taken advantage of officially designated warming centers.
Tanis said the weather forecast called for a moderation in temperatures for the weekend. The National Weather Service forecast showed expected high temperatures in the upper 70s or low 80s through Monday with lows in the 50s. There is a chance of showers Friday, but the rest of the weekend should be sunny.
