Even though they weren’t prolonged, storms moving across Lenawee County Monday evening produced widespread damage, including downed trees and power lines, which has resulted in numerous parts of the county being without power.
High wind speeds appeared to be the biggest of factors resulting in Lenawee County’s storm cleanup efforts, Terry DeDoes, Consumers Energy electrical and natural gas spokesperson for Lenawee County, said Tuesday morning. Wind speeds for the county, he said, ranged from 45 to 65 mph.
“It was a quick hitter,” DeDoes said of Monday’s storm, which approached from the west and moved in an eastward direction. “The number of outages grew very quickly as the storm made its way along its course. As the storm progressed east, it continued to do damage, mostly with high winds.”
The southern half of Michigan’s Lower Peninsula was hit the hardest, DeDoes said. As of Tuesday morning, he said, Consumers Energy was reporting 175,000 customers across the state were without power because of Monday’s storms.
In Lenawee County, more than 8,000 customers were without power as of Tuesday afternoon, as recorded on Consumers Energy’s outage map on its website, www.consumersenergy.com/outagemap. Tuesday night the map said more than 9,000 customers were without power. That is more than 20% of Consumers' customers in the county. For most of the customers, Consumers Energy expects to have all power restored no later than the end of the day Wednesday, Aug. 31, DeDoes said.
“It’s been busy for sure, for our crews,” he said. “Crews are working on ‘storm mode’ which means they are working 16-hour shifts around the clock to restore power.”
As of 3:30 p.m Tuesday, Midwest Energy & Communications that it still had 25 customers in Hudson and Woodstock townships without power. It expected service to be restored by 4 p.m. Tuesday.
With any kind of inclement weather, safety and taking necessary precautions are the most important steps to take, DeDoes said, when seeking shelter. Because Monday’s storm brought down several power lines, DeDoes said it’s critical for people to remember not to approach downed wires. The suggested distance to remain away from downed power lines is 25 feet or more, DeDoes said. It’s also important, he added, for generators to be placed in a well ventilated area when in use.
In Monroe County, a 14-year-old girl was electrocuted when she came in contact with a downed but still energized electrical line, which fell as a result of the storm. Once DTE Energy crews were able to disconnect the power lines, emergency crews from the Monroe Public Safety Department and Monroe police detectives, determined the teenager succumbed to her injuries.
The west and northwest portions of Lenawee County were the hardest hit by Monday’s storms. Addison, Hudson, Manitou Beach, Morenci and Onsted all appear in the “red” category on Consumers Energy’s outage map, meaning more than 25% of the population is without power. As of Tuesday afternoon, Onsted was listed at 2,261 customers without power, a 94.5 percentage of the community. Tipton and Clinton also had more than 60% of customers without power Tuesday afternoon.
The thunderstorms began Monday afternoon and stretched from Iowa to Ohio before heading eastward into Pennsylvania, bringing with them heavy rain and intense wind gusts. Driving the storms, according to AccuWeather, was an advancing cold front colliding with hot and humid air that had been in the area over the past several days.
While there have not been any reports of casualties in Lenawee County from Monday’s storm, several outages have been reported to The Daily Telegram.
The Tec*mseh Senior Center was closed for the entirety of the day Tuesday and did not have activities at its facility. Home-delivered meals, meanwhile, went out as scheduled. If phone lines remain down, people trying to contact the Tec*mseh Senior Center should call the Lenawee County Department on Aging at 517-264-5280.
The Lenawee County Annex Building, 113 W. Front St., Adrian, was closed Tuesday due to a lack of power in the building. All employees were sent home, a news release from the Lenawee County Administrator’s office, said. Affected by the closure of the Annex Building were vital records, elections, the public defender’s office and concealed pistol licenses.
The Rex B Martin Judicial Building was also closed because of a lack of power.
“Any proceedings scheduled for this date will be rescheduled,” the Lenawee County Administrator’s Office said in a separate news release.
Phone systems for the judicial building, the county annex building, the old Lenawee County Courthouse and the physical resources building were all inoperable.
Departments in the old courthouse and physical resources, however, were open for business. Such offices at those locations include register of deeds, county treasurer, equalization, administration, drain commission, printing and purchasing, and the medical examiner’s office.
In Morenci, Oak Grove Cemetery is closed until further notice because of storm damage. The cemetery's main building was heavily damaged when a tree fell on it, damaging the roof and knocking part of the stone facade off the building. The city’s phone and computer systems were also not working Tuesday. Messages intended for Morenci city staff could to be sent through the City of Morenci Facebook page or via email to cityofmorenci@gmail.com.
The city of Hudson recommended drivers be careful and cautious when driving as trees, limbs and brush may still be down across roadways.
“DPW(Department of Public Works) is working diligently to clean up the debris,” the city said in an announcement. “Please call the city office is you notice any downed power lines at 448-8983. After hours, you can call Lenawee Dispatch at 517-263-0524 (or 911 NON EMERG option).”
For Hudson residents, brush and limbs can be placed at the curb for pickup. The city asks residents to keep the length of the brush to four feet or less, while smaller brush can be put into paper yard waste bags.
Daily Telegram news editor David Panian contributed to this report.
