ROCKFORD, Mich. — After a storm swept through Michigan on Tuesday, crews are working in Rockford to restore electricity. The storm brought down tree limbs and powerlines, leaving many homes without power.
One Rockford resident said Tuesday's storms took them by surprise.
"I didn't even know we were supposed to get rain today. I quick checked my radar, and I saw it coming very quickly, so it just hit a lot faster than I was expecting," said Rockford resident Shanna Gauss.
Moments after Gauss came home from work, Tuesday's storm caused a tree to completely collapse outside of her next-door neighbor's home in Rockford.
"All of a sudden, the skies just turned really dark and I came running up here to check it out and just kind of watch as things were kind of flying through the air. Then I heard the cracking of the tree, and I turned and watched as the wires just got pulled right out of my sister's house right next door," said Gauss.
Northern Kent County was hit hard by storms Tuesday afternoon. There were over 40 calls for downed wires and several reported trees down across the county. On Courtland Street, a tree completely fell over Tuesday afternoon--causing downed power lines on nearby residents' driveways.
"I was actually waving to cars as they were coming because I didn't know if they had seen the power line down, so they didn't drive over it," said Gauss.
The fallen tree took a few power lines down with it and now many people on Courtland Street don't have power. The street was blocked off by officials for the remainder of the day.
Gauss said she's grateful officials responded immediately to the scene.
"I'm just hoping, I mean, I'm glad that, at least that with the rain, it dropped the humidity. So we're just hoping that we can get our power back here quickly, so all of our freezers and food stayed good. Other than that, we're good. We're all safe, so we're good to go," said Gauss.
Across the state, the weather left over 160,000 without power.
Consumers Energy said their crews will work through the night to restore power, focusing on critical customers first. Around 9:30 p.m. they shared an update that they had 300 crews out working to restore power.
Lineworkers can work as long as 16 hours at a time, Consumers officials said. Work will continue until power is restored to everyone.
“We care about the customers we serve and understand the hardship of being without power with high temperatures. The state was slammed by a severe storm, with growing intensity, across the state knocking out power, trees and power lines to several communities,” said Norm Kapala, one of Consumers Energy’s Officers in Charge for restoration. “Crews are moving into position and will work through the night to restore power, focusing on assessing damage and restoration of critical customers first, ensuring we can get the lights back on for our customers.”
The areas with the most outages were north and northeast of Grand Rapids as well as north of Mount Pleasant.
The National Weather Service Grand Rapids reported that wind speeds were up to 60 mph and there was possible hail.
Consumers Energy urges the public to keep important safety tips in mind:
- Be alert to crews working along roadsides. Drivers should slow down or stop and wait for oncoming traffic to clear so they can go safely past.
- Stay at least 25 feet away from downed power lines, and to report unguarded downed lines by calling 9-1-1 and Consumers Energy at 800-477-5050. Consumers Energy reminds people that falsely calling in downed lines actually slows down the restoration process for everyone.
- Never use a generator in an attached garage, basement, enclosed patio or near any air intakes. Doing so could cause a generator to produce hazardous levels of carbon monoxide, an odorless, colorless and deadly gas. Read more guidance on safe generator use here.
- Consumers Energy will trim or remove trees interfering with electric restoration activities. Once safe to do so, clean-up of debris from tree trimming or removal during a storm emergency is the responsibility of individual property owners.
- In some cases, the mast that holds the electric service wires to a home or business may have been damaged or torn away. Crews will reconnect the wires to a home, but only a licensed electrician can repair or replace a mast or a cable.