Storm packs a punch in Michigan

[Richard]

I'm back online. We had a wicked storm come through here and knocked out the power for 2 days.


Trees knocked down, houses crushed, thousands lose power

By JULIE SWIDWA - and ANDREW LERSTEN
Published: Tuesday, July 12, 2011 1:07 PM EDT

ST. JOSEPH — Police and fire departments were kept busy Monday when a line of severe thunderstorms passed through Southwest Michigan, packing strong winds, heavy rain and lightning.

Indiana & Michigan Power Co. reported that as many as 67,000 customers were without electricity after the storms passed through, including 16,156 in Berrien County, 10,935 in Van Buren County and 4,152 in Cass County.

By 9 p.m. Monday, I&M said service had been restored to more than 21,000 customers, but 46,000 were still without power. Those included 13,888 in Berrien County,  11,023 in Van Buren County and 3,519 in Cass County.

Crews were working Monday to restore power, but the utility said it could take several days to restore service to everyone.

State police and city police departments in the area said no serious injuries were reported.

Chief Jim Spiegel of North Berrien Fire Rescue said two firefighters received minor injuries, including a nail in a hand and some pulled muscles, after two fires in Coloma Township. He said neither firefighter sought medical treatment.

Spiegel said his department responded to 22 calls between 10:15 a.m. and 1 p.m. Monday.

“There were literally dozens of calls we had addresses and notes for, and probably 35-40 calls total,” he said. “The number of trees down is probably in the thousands between Hagar, Coloma and Watervliet. Houses are crushed from M-63 on the shore to the east side of Coloma.”

Fires at houses at 7387 Little Paw Paw Lake Road owned by Greg Doherty and 5691 Johnson Road owned by Dan Carney were electrical in nature and were most likely caused by the storm, Spiegel said.

He said residents were out in force Monday afternoon helping to clear trees from the roadways.

Berrien County Sheriff’s Department Capt. Corey Burks, emergency management coordinator, said the 911 dispatch center “had a very busy few hours” responding to calls of trees and power lines down.

“It sounds like it was everywhere from New Buffalo to Coloma to Niles and everywhere in between. I don’t know of any injuries at this point. I didn’t hear of any,” Burks said Monday afternoon.

Benton Harbor Deputy Public Safety Director Eugene Seats said no one was injured when a large tree limb fell on a house at 608 Pavone, causing a gas leak.

“It was hit and miss all over the city,” he said.

I&M said the storm packed winds in excess of 80 miles per hour.

The city of St. Joseph issued a combined sewer overflow notice because storm runoff inundated some sanitary sewers, raising the prospect of sewage entering the St. Joseph River. The overflows happen during periods of heavy rain when the sewage treatment plant cannot keep up, and federal regulations require the overflows to be reported. The overflow was reported beginning at 10:10 a.m. and ending at 11:13 a.m.

The Benton Township Fire Department responded to several calls Monday, including a fire at the Creative Arts Academy, 1995 Union St., unrelated to the storm, Lt. Malcom Cowan said.

He credited a custodian, Virginia Huddleston, with noticing a fire in the ceiling that had likely been smoldering since Friday, when a construction crew was working on a project using cutting torches.

“It was a smoldering, slow-moving burn and it was discovered just as the storm was coming over the lake at 9:49 a.m.,” Cowan said.

He said the fire was under control in about five minutes and caused only $300-400 in damage to the school.

Returning from that scene, firefighters came across a power line across the road in the 1500 block of Empire Avenue. After helping to direct traffic there, the crew was called at 11:12 a.m. to 2434 Kurt St., where a tree had fallen on a house. No one was injured, Cowan said.

He said power lines were also down in the area of Britain and Benton Center Roads, and that an I&M crew was on the scene.

A dispatcher at the Berrien Springs-Oronoko Township Police Department said power lines and trees were down “everywhere.”

“Our phones have been ringing nonstop,” she said.

Melchizedek Ponniah, an Andrews University professor of media studies, who lives on Washington Street near the village garage, watched as big limbs and one or two big trees fell in the woods behind his house. He said at least six trees were damaged.

Ryan Streelman is an emergency room technician with Lakeland Regional Medical Center in St. Joseph and a volunteer with the Berrien Springs-Oronoko Township Fire Department and lives on West Hamilton Street. He watched as a village-owned vehicle missed by just a few seconds being hit by a large limb that fell and took down power lines.

Herald-Palladium Metro Editor Ted Hartzell, who lives on North Mechanic Street in Berrien Springs, watched as a huge section of a tree cracked off the trunk and nearly hit a house two houses away owned by Jesse and Jennifer Hibler.

The late-morning storm wreaked havoc across Van Buren County as it raced across the area at a high rate of speed, authorities reported.

In South Haven, a tree fell on a city electrical transformer on Aylworth Avenue around 11 a.m. and knocked out power for about 90 minutes to an area that included downtown, City Manager Brian Dissette said.

At the Van Buren Youth Fairgrounds in Hartford Township, high winds ripped off a portion of the show arena roof and downed a big oak tree, said Fair Board Treasurer Rusty Tripp. The fair is next week, but Tripp said repairs to the roof and removal of the tree are expected to be done by then.

As the storm moved into the eastern part of the county, state police reported numerous incidents of trees and power lines down.

“This was a violent wind storm, with widespread damage to property and power lines,” said Sgt. James Bennett of the Paw Paw state police post.

“We’ve had numerous power outages and multiple trees down. A semi truck got blown over on I-94 at mile marker 57 near Paw Paw. (The driver) was trapped in the vehicle but wasn’t injured, but he was shaken up. We had many reports of trees falling on houses. Some places may not have power until Tuesday,” Bennett said.

Midwest Energy Cooperative, serving parts of Cass and Van Buren counties, reported late Monday afternoon that 15,000 customers remained without power. Transmission was lost to nine substations. The company had no estimate of restoration time due to the transmission problems and overall damage caused by the storm.

Midwest Energy said the outages were widespread and scattered in Cassopolis, Dowagiac, Marcellus, Decator, Lawton, Schoolcraft, Mattawan, Paw Paw and Bloomingdale.

Consumers Energy reported that 3,390 of its customers in Van Buren County were without power.

The violent weather knocked out power to at least 184,000 homes and businesses in Lower Michigan, authorities said.

A 38-year-old man died when a tree fell on his home in Cutlerville, south of Grand Rapids, The Grand Rapids Press reported.

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