North Michigan – No stranger to wild weather – try to cope with days without power

The Pointe de la Mitten du Michigan had difficulties through another day without electricity on Tuesday while agitated residents were trying to stay warm while public services rushed to restore power in a region Weekend freezing rain This has shot countless trees and posts.

The schools of several counties were again closed at the top of the lower peninsula. The deputies of the sheriff armed with chain saws cleaned the roads and even delivered oxygen for the comfortable. Drivers have slowed down their vehicles in service station lines that were long.

Northern Michigan lives with crazy weather – Gaylord obtained 199 inches (5 meters) of snow this winter – but this wave is very different.

“It is a situation of ice. The trees and electric lines are loaded, literally,” said the sheriff of the county of Charlevoix, Chuck Vondra. “Everything happens inside.”

More than 170,000 power outages were reported Tuesday evening throughout the state in Michigan, according to Poweroutage.usdown 300,000 earlier in the week. But in some regions, entire communities have been without electricity since Saturday.

The Sheriff of the County of Cheboygan said that residents should consider leaving the city if they have another place to stay. Run on generators, the town hall of Petoskey and part of the Odawa casino were transformed into paradise 24 hours a day so that people can warm up and load phones. Governor Gretchen Whitmer said she was sending the Michigan National Guard to help restoration efforts.

“The challenge is debris, impracticable roads and hundreds of poles slaughtered. Each post takes hours to replace,” said the almost Isle Electric & Gas cooperative, one of the many public services in the region

Petra Tank, 32, of Petoskey, said that she had finally decided to drive 25 miles (40 kilometers) to a friend for heat and a shower on Monday.

“I realized:” Oh, it’s a big problem. We are not going to be back to work this week, “said Tank, who has a tailor store.

“We have been sitting in the ducks for three days without electricity, and morale is officially starting to decrease because our houses only cool. … It’s just a little free for everything,” she told the Associated Press.

The Alpena News in Alpena could not publish a newspaper on Monday or Tuesday, but he finally planned a printed edition on Wednesday. The editor -in -chief Torianna Marrasco said that she had published online stories by moving outside the region for internet access.

The Mackinac bridge, a range of 5 miles (8 kilometers) connecting the two Peninsulas of Michigan, was sometimes closed due to the thick ice falling from Towers and cables.

A rescue agency, Conné of Hope, loaded trucks with food and water for a trip to northern Michigan, said Mike Way, pastor of Center Point CHURCH in Charlevoix.

“Everyone right now is on pins and needles. I understand that more snow and ice are coming,” said Way. “We are not yet out of the woods.”

Tom family market staff in Onway used pocket lamps to help desperate customers find food for the pinch.

“Don’t tell the Governor,” said owner Bryan Madison to Detroit News, “but we don’t allow taxes to be received.”

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The Associated Press writer, Tammy Webber, contributed to this report.