Lansing area residents left to clean up from widespread storm damage

MERIDIAN TWP. — Residents in the Haslett and Okemos areas and across the Lansing region were cleaning up Wednesday morning after severe thunderstorms swept across Michigan and left as many as 350,000 electric customers without power.

The storm uprooted trees and brought down limbs and power lines as it moved across much of the Lower Peninsula.

The Lansing area was not as hard hit by power outages as some areas to the west, including Ionia and Grand Rapids, or southeast Michigan, although at one point Tuesday evening some 16,000 customers were without power.

That number of outages around Lansing had dropped to about several thousand by Wednesday afternoon, and Consumers Energy said most customers in the region would have power by midday Wednesday, with the rest of the state restored by the end of Wednesday.

Consumers said more than 190,000 customers in Michigan lost power in Tuesday’s storms.

DTE Energy said it hoped to have 90% of customers restored by the end of the day Thursday, noting it had 1,200 additional line workers from out of the area working on power lines.

The Lansing Board of Water & Light had about 150 people without power Wednesday afternoon, and was estimating restoration would be completed sometime Friday.

Lynn Sherwood lives in the 1100 block of Hillview Drive in Haslett and said the storm came through and tore down a large tree that had been marked for removal - because of an infestation - years ago.

“It didn’t hit my flower garden,” she said Wednesday morning. The large tree didn’t damage her boyfriend’s home, off Haslett Road. Sherwood said they do not have power or internet.

Patrick Morris was talking with Consumers Energy workers who were repairing his power on Cypress Street in Haslett Wednesday morning. A large branch from his 75-foot walnut tree fell during the storm, blocking his street.

It took out Morris’s power lines but not his neighbor’s.

“That was lucky,” he said.

About a block away on Harvey Street, a car was crushed by a tree limb and another car behind it appeared to be damaged as well.

The Lansing Fire Department said it had responded to "at least 39 weather related emergencies" as of Tuesday evening, although no injuries were reported.

"The storm has caused widespread electrical issues, downed branches and trees, and some hazardous traffic conditions," the department said.

In Williamston, the downtown remained without power Wednesday morning. A stoplight was dark, and most businesses were closed.

Dan Wygant, assistant manager of the True Value Hardware, had the lights on.

“Generator, out back,” he said.

Wygant said he was getting steady business, no one with anything major, but people were coming in talking about some toppled trees and a few minor home repairs.

“Nothing major so far, he said.

In St. Johns, two homes in the city suffered significant damage from falling trees, Police Chief David Kirk said.

Several area schools were closed Wednesday due to power outages.

Ovid-Elsie Area Schools cancelled classes because schools did not have power; classes were also cancelled at Eureka Elementary in the St. Johns school district. In Mason, Alaiedon Elementary is also closed for lack of power. Laingsburg schools is also closed, and H.T. Smith Elementary and Natalie Kreeger Elementary schools in Fowlerville are also closed. Fowlerville's junior high and high school campuses were both open.

Contact Mike Ellis at mellis@lsj.com or 517-267-0415.

This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Lansing area residents left to clean up from widespread storm damage