Freezing Rain Leaves Over 400,000 Without Power in Michigan and Wisconsin as Severe Storms Threaten Tennessee

Freezing rain downed trees and power lines in Michigan and Wisconsin, knocking out power for thousands of residents in the upper Great Lakes region on Sunday, while forecasters warned of severe weather approaching Tennessee.

The National Weather Service predicted winds of up to 70 mph (112 kph) in the heart of Tennessee on Sunday night, with a potential of tornadoes and hail as large as 2 inches (5 centimetres).

“Have your safe place cleaned out just in case,” predictors stated on social media site X. Over 400,000 power disruptions were reported in Michigan, Indiana, and Wisconsin. Churches with power, as well as schools and fire halls, were converted into warming centres while utilities tried to restore power, a task that will most certainly extend into Monday in small towns and rural areas.

The Weather Service office in Gaylord, Michigan, was in the thick of it, reporting on X: “Accumulations here range from a half inch to nearly a whole inch of ice!”

Despite the calendar indicating spring, “it’s still winter,” said Ryan Brege, general director of the Alpena County Road Commission, located 250 miles (402 kilometres) north of Detroit.

Alpena Power said that virtually all of its 16,750 residential and commercial customers were without power. Many churches in Wisconsin and Michigan had to cancel Sunday services due to power outages.

“We pray that everyone stays safe!” said Calvary Lutheran Church of Merrill, Wisconsin.

Jesika Fox stated that she and her husband drove more than 40 minutes from their house in Alpena, Michigan, to get fuel for a generator. Her family lost electricity on Saturday night, but they kept the house warm by using a fan to circulate heat from a gas cooker.

“We’ve just passed a veterinary clinic. “A tree destroyed the entire front corner of the building,” claimed Fox, 36.

Sarah Melching, emergency services manager in adjoining Presque Isle County, said nearly the whole county (population 13,200) is without electricity.

“Some trees are still crashing down. It’s really of harsh out there,” Melching explained.

Authorities in South Carolina reported success on Sunday in taming wildfires in the Blue Ridge Mountains. The Table Rock and Persimmon Ridge fires have burned approximately 17 square miles (44 square kilometres). Some Greenville County residents were subject to mandatory evacuations on Saturday.

“Thank you for your prayers. They are being heard. “There is rain in the air,” said Derrick Moore, operations chief for the Southern Area Blue Team.

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