TWIN LAKE, Mich. — Over two weeks after storms ripped through West Michigan, one community is still in danger—with an uprooted tree hanging by an internet line and over a busy stretch of road with nobody coming to clear it away.
On Tuesday, June 25, damaging wind gusts upwards of 70 mph rocked the area, leaving hundreds of thousands without power. A neighborhood just southeast of Twin Lake was in the path of the storms, knocking down powerlines and blocking trees.
When 13 ON YOUR SIDE visited the area, it was nearly impossible to navigate because of the number of downed power lines and blocked roads. Pillon Road, the main way to M120 for many residents, was blocked off by three separate downed trees and wires, even falling on a young mother as she was headed to work.
It took crews days to get power back to the area, and longer to remove debris. Neighbors said most of the trees blocking roadways were handled by residents, using personally-owned tractors and chainsaws.
What was unable to be cleared by residents was passed onto crews to remove. Now, the roads are clear, but a tree hanging over the road is not — instead being supported by an internet line and marked by three orange barrels.
Mike Miller lives near the area. He has to drive underneath the leaning tree to get to work every day.
"It's being held up. It looks like by the by the wire, and it's been that way for a long time," Miller said. "It's very intimidating to drive underneath it, and our family goes under it every day, so we've been trying to reroute, go a different direction, and that kind of thing. But so many cars come through here."
Pillon Road, neighbors said, is a very busy road for the area. Miller said it's only a matter of time before it falls.
"When we drive under it, we just kind of hold our breath like, 'man, let's just get through it,'" Miller said. "You know, my son's in Driver's Ed, so he's on his permit, and he's, he's pretty intimidated going under it, too."
Miller said the entire community has been affected by the damage. Residents said they have been trying to contact crews to clear the line.
When Consumers Energy came to clear the road, locals said responding crews cleared dangerous power lines, but only one lane, leaving the tree in a dangerous position for drivers.
Miller said he's appreciative of all the work Consumers Energy has done to return power to the area, but wished the job included the dangerous tree.
"It's been two weeks. It feels like maybe that's long enough that it could be addressed by now," Miller said. "I'm hoping they come out soon. They did fix a power pole down the road, but the power lines still on the ground over here, and this tree is still hanging on."
The road is frequently used by trucks and utility vehicles. Miller said for an area with a lot of young families, having the tree dangle over the roadway is a serious danger.
"There are a lot of families that live here and go underneath that every day," Miller said. "I don't know if they've rerouted the school bus or not, but there's usually a school bus that goes up and down this road, so it's definitely a busy, busy road and an important path for us."
"To us, it looks really unsafe, and you drive under it, and you get a little nervous," Miller added. "It just it could be a tragedy in waiting. I mean, if someone comes under that and a car comes down, someone could get hurt."
Ed Wiggers lives next door to the fallen tree. He said that as dangerous as it was when the storms hit, in the two weeks since, the tree has gotten worse.
"It's dropped a couple inches," Wiggers said. "This is dying, and branches are probably snapping, so it's becoming more and more of a danger. It's only a matter of time."
He said the line belongs to a communications company — one both residents of the area and Dalton Township have tried to locate. Locals said every crew who has visited the site has left without clearing the scene, saying it is not their line, not their problem.
"We had Consumers show up, Comcast, Frontier and all them, and they're all like, not mine, not my line," Wiggers said. "Those guys were just standing there looking at their tree instead of getting it off the road."
With the way the tree is leaning, most vehicles used the left lane to avoid the low hanging tree. Wiggers said it's caused trouble for the hundreds of people who use the road day-to-day.
"We've had box trucks come under here, they literally get out to see if they could fit underneath it," Wiggers said. "It's just too many people drive up and down it, so it, if that thing comes down, it could kill kids or whatever. I mean, we already come close to that happening at the storm, so I'd prefer not having it happen again."
With storms inevitably popping up across west Michigan, Wiggers said he's afraid of what might happen.
"If we have a good windstorm that pops up, too much rain, that breaks the rest of the roots free, there's too many things. So you don't know, it could be 10 minutes from now- a good gust of wind." Wiggers said. "If something snaps, you know, if it falls during the night time, somebody could hit it and get killed. So it'd be really nice to have it, you know, removed."
13 ON YOUR SIDE reached out to Consumers Energy, who confirmed it is a communications line. WZZM reached out to Comcast and Frontier. Comcast said the line belongs to Frontier. Frontier has not yet responded.
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