‘High impact winter storm’ continues across northern Michigan, UP; thousands without power

Much of northern Michigan is under intense winter weather advisories as storms hit the state and upper peninsula.

As of 6:20 a.m. Monday, Traverse City, Gaylord and Rogers City were under a winter storm warning as snow and sleet hit the northern half of lower Michigan. Petoskey and most of the Upper Peninsula were under a blizzard warning, according to the National Weather Service.

“A high impact winter storm will continue across portions of Northern Michigan today with heavy snow and potential blizzard conditions. Impacts from significant icing this past evening and tonight will continue today,” reads a hazardous weather outlook issued at 4:12 a.m. Monday for the eastern upper peninsula and northern lower Michigan.

Meteorologist Jeff Zoltowski out of Michigan’s Gaylord office said winds “are going to be picking up” throughout Monday, which could lead to already fallen snow being blown around.

“That’s kind of our main concern as we go through the day today. It’s going to be difficult for crews to kind of keep the roads clear. It’s going to be difficult travel conditions throughout the day,” said Zoltowski.

As of around 6:30 a.m., Michigan led the United States in power outages with 115,323, according to PowerOutage.com. The most heavily impacted county was Roscommon County, which had 23,679 outages, or 87%.

Consumers Energy announced early Monday it was deploying 480 crews to the region to start restoring power to the region. The company said 89,746 of its customers were affected by power outages, but 95.4% of its total customers had service as of 9 a.m.

DTE Energy said 8,628 of its customers were experiencing power outages as of 9 a.m. Monday, but that 99.6% of its total customers had service.

Other Michigan energy companies also reported outages on Monday morning.

Alpena Power Company said more than 12,000 of its 16,781 customers were in the dark, as of 8:45 a.m.

It said in a statement issued at about 5 a.m. that about 65% of its customers were without power. Outages began about 9 p.m. on Sunday, “and the situation deteriorated quickly as ice buildup caused devastating damage to trees,” the company said.

“All available crews are working, and we have additional contract crews assisting,” company officials said. “This is another catastrophic event for Northern Michigan, with extensive tree damage causing widespread power outages throughout the area.”

The company was referring to the historic storm that ripped through Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and part of the Lower Peninsula last year.

“We ask for your continued patience and understanding,” the statement said. “We are dealing with a catastrophic event that has affected much of Northern Michigan. The situation is ever-changing; trees continue to fall, which can cause more outages and damage additional equipment, both of which can change restoration times.”

It also warned that the power outages could last for days.

“Due to the extensive nature of the damage and the continuing storm, customers should plan for multi-day outages,” the company said.

Great Lakes Energy, which serves western northern Michigan from the tip of the mitten to Holland, reported Monday that about 8,000 of its more than 133,000 customers were in the dark as of 9 a.m.

Presque Isle Electric & Gas Co-op, which serves a nine-county region in northeast Michigan, said service has been interrupted to about 1,200 of its more than 35,500 customers, as of 9 a.m.

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Staff writer Charles E. Ramirez contributed.

This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: ‘High impact winter storm’ continues across northern Michigan, U.P.; thousands without power

Reporting by Max Bryan, The Detroit News / The Detroit News

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