Storm leaves thousands without power

By TOM LAVENTURE

tlaventure@yourdailyglobe.com

Ironwood - The region is cleaning from a thunderstorm that rolled through Monday evening, leaving a string of fallen trees and power lines that left thousands without power, most temporarily and others for an entire day.

There were 26,000 customers impacted in Gogebic County and Iron County, Wisconsin, according to Christine Ouellette, senior media relations representative for the Michigan and Wisconsin office of Xcel Energy Inc. Approximately 10,000 customers experienced a momentary outage, while another 16,000 had a sustained outage.

As of Tuesday morning, the power to around 8,500 customers was restored and another 7,500 customers were still without power, she said. This is about a 53% restoration rate in the first 10 hours.

"We don't have a restoration time for the remaining 7,500, but would anticipate sometime today (Tuesday) as we have more than 300 crews out working," Ouellette said.

The outages started at approximately 9:30 p.m., and lasted well into the early morning, Ouellette said. The outages were mostly due to heavy fallen trees, based on reports from overnight crews.

"We are in the process of completing a helicopter patrol of the area to determine the extent of damage, especially to transmission lines," Ouellette said.

Heidi DeRosso, coordinator of the county Emergency Management/911 office, said that power was out sporadically throughout Gogebic County. As of Tuesday morning the storm assessment was ongoing, she said.

"As far as I know, nobody has been injured at this time," DeRoss said. "Stay off roadways if possible until the debris is cleared and lines are repaired."

Marenisco Township appears to have been the hardest hit from the storm, she said. The rest of the county experienced a severe storm with wind but Marenisco appears much more severe.

There is no confirmation yet on whether or not there was a tornado in Marenisco, said Joe Phillips, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Marquette, The office is collecting data to determine precisely what occurred with the strong line of thunderstorms that moved through Monday evening.

The storms appear to have been tied to a cold front moving in from the West and spreading across the Upper Peninsula from Lake Superior to Lake Michigan. There was widespread wind damage associated with the storm but there aren't reports of hail activity yet, he said.

The Gogebic Iron County Airport reported 47 mph wind gusts at around 9:30 p.m., he said. The strongest winds reported reached 66 mph at Minneapolis Shoal Light Station, south of Escanaba on Lake Michigan.

Preliminary radar estimations show precipitation totals were generally about one-half-inch to an inch in western Gogebic County, he said.. There was slightly more than an inch of rain in eastern Gogebic and Ontonagon County.

This thunderstorm was a little stronger than the average lake breeze related storms, with additional upper level reinforcement and high altitude winds, Philips said. Expect to see more storms with a mix of severe weather developing this afternoon and evening in parts of Gogebic and Ontonagon County, he said.

"A little bit of an after-pattern," Phillips said.

As of Tuesday morning, several residents of the city of Bessemer and Bessemer Township were without power.

The damage in the western end of Gogebic County was not as severe as in the east, but was still substantial, with downed trees and power lines and outages, DeRosso said.

"I guess one tree did partially fall on a house, with no real damage, in the city of Ironwood," DeRosso said. "Other than that, they just had trees across the road and more sporadic power outages."

Scott Erickson, city manager of Ironwood, said there were a lot of downed trees and some power lines, but initial reports were that there were no injuries or severe damage to structures in the city.

"Most of the damage appeared to be further north," he said. "There is still cleanup to do and we are working on that."

The city department of public works crews responded immediately to calls, and removed trees and limbs from roadways throughout the night. Crews started mulching the limbs on Tuesday.

"We have a really nice system in place," Erickson said. "A public safety officer contacts our folks (about reported fallen trees) and we come out and help."

The Iron County Sheriff's Office said there were no reported injuries or major damage to structures reported overnight. The wind damage to trees and poles appears to have been more severe in the south end of the county.