Thousands of Michigan Residents Without Power After Back-to-Back Ice Storms

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The power in Leah Thomas’ Beverly Hills, Michigan, home went out about 9 p.m. last Wednesday.

It was back on Sunday evening but was lost again the next day. And like thousands of Michigan residents left in the dark following back-to-back ice storms, Thomas wonders when the lights will come on – and stay on.

“It has been unsettling … not knowing exactly what is going to happen day to day,” she told The Associated Press Tuesday.

Detroit-based DTE Energy said Monday afternoon that service had been returned to more than 95% of its more than 600,000 customers who lost power during last Wednesday’s ice storm. Another 46,000 were out Tuesday following a second ice storm on Monday.

Jackson, Michigan-based Consumers Energy had restored power to about 260,000 customers who had lost service before Monday’s storm knocked out electricity to another 45,000 homes and businesses. The utility said Tuesday that power to those customers should be back on by Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Thomas said her family is trying to keep their pipes from bursting because of the cold and have lost all the food in their refrigerator.

DTE Energy officials have said the problems caused by last Wednesday’s ice storm are the worst in about 50 years. A December 2013 storm knocked out power to nearly 600,000 homes and businesses in Michigan. Experts say such weather extremes could become more commonplace.

CHANGING WEATHER PATTERNS

“Events like freezing rain … they’re pretty rare but they’re showing up in places that are new and in times that are new,” said Richard Rood, a professor in the University of Michigan’s Department of Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering. ”They might be a little more intense because its warmer. Before, (the moisture) might fall as snow, which is not nearly as damaging.”

Beginning last Wednesday, rain began to fall across parts of Michigan. As the temperature dropped, it became sleet and ice.

“Freezing rain events cause just massive tree falls, and then the ice on the line weights the lines,” Rood said. “Some of this is very hard to plan for, but there are ways you can build a resilience, often by tree management, which is the first line of defense.”

AGING INFRASTRUCTURE

Heat events during the summer and winter weather like the ice storms just aren’t good for older infrastructure across the United States, Rood said.

“That infrastructure was built for a different climate, different environmental conditions,” he said. “Now it’s changing, and we need to be thinking about the future.”