A brutal spring ice storm toppled trees onto electric lines and snapped power poles in half throughout northern Michigan, leaving more than 80,000 electric cooperative consumer-members without electricity Monday.
Presque Isle Electric & Gas Co-op in Onaway and Great Lakes Energy in Boyne City were the two co-ops hit hardest by Sunday’s storm.
PIE&G reported outages to more than 32,000 of its approximately 40,000 members Monday.
“This storm is unlike anything we have experienced,” PIE&G President and CEO Allan Berg said. “While we diligently prepare for any weather event, this event is extreme.
“It only takes a quarter of an inch of ice to cause damage, and we have areas with over half an inch of ice or more. The lines can fall when this happens, which causes further damage and outages.”
Berg said the ice storm “had a large impact on the transmission system which powers our substations” as well as a widespread effect on the main distribution system that brings power to members’ homes and businesses.
“Many of the PIE&G substations are currently without power.” he said, adding that many roads remained impassable for co-op crews because of downed trees. “Our fiber internet is also down for our service area.
“Our team and emergency support are working as quickly and safely as possible to remove debris and make repairs, but the damage is widespread and full restoration of all members will take an extended period of time.”
At Great Lakes Energy, nearly 44,000 of the co-op’s 132,582 members were without power as of Monday afternoon. That was down from more than 46,000 outages on Sunday.
Co-op lineworkers were making repairs alongside contractors and mutual aid crews from neighboring co-ops, GLE said. Extra tree-trimming crews were also deployed to clear pathways for lineworkers.
“GLE anticipates that restoration efforts will take multiple days due to extensive damage to the cooperative’s electric infrastructure,” the co-op said in a Sunday press release.
Midwest Energy & Communications in Cassopolis reported about 5,700 outages as of Monday afternoon, down from about 10,000 the day before. The co-op serves more than 37,000 members. Alger Delta Cooperative Electric Association in Gladstone had about 1,400 of its 10,420 members without power Monday, and Homeworks Tri-County in Portland was down to less than 650 outages among its 27,500 members.
Erin Kelly is a staff writer for NRECA.