(THUMB AREA) – Thousands of residents in Sanilac County and throughout the Thumb Region are in the dark today after persistent strong winds pounded the area, downing power lines and trees and forcing the closure of a few schools and some businesses both Wednesday and Thursday.
Winds throughout the day on Wednesday howled out of the northeast, slamming into the shoreline of Lake Huron. The powerful winds also created a Kodak moment for residents along the shoreline to take pictures and video as giant waves crashed into breakwalls.
As of 9 a.m. Thursday morning, nearly 80,000 DTE customers were without power in Michigan, including thousands in the Thumb Region. Thumb Electric reported around 1,000 without service.
Just 10 days after a severe thunderstorm ripped through Sandusky causing extensive damage, this week’s storm once again left parts of the city looking like a war zone with downed trees and branches as well as a loss of power, forcing McKenzie Health System to alter some of their services and closing of the Sanilac County Courthouse Wednesday afternoon.
The Lexington area was among those hit the hardest in the county, according to Sanilac County Emergency Management Director Todd Hillman. Lexington Fire Chief Keefe Radke said his department responded to over 30 calls in the past 24 hours, mostly down power lines and trees. Power was knocked out to parts of the village as well as widespread damage in Lexington Heights and other areas along the shoreline.
Meanwhile, in St. Clair County, it was a busy night for the Port Huron fire department as firefighters responded to two structure fires and numerous calls of downed power lines as winds estimated to be over 50 mph ripped cross the region.
Residents in Port Huron were encouraged to stay away from Erie Street and Glenwood Avenue near St. Clair County Community College, late Wednesday night, as well as other areas affected by the windstorm while firefighters battled a structure fire that shut down power in the neighborhood.
Crews responded to the fire in the 800 block of Erie Street after 7 p.m. Fire officials confirmed the fire was started by multiple downed wires as a result of the storm with firefighters having to wait until DTE shut down electrical service in the area.
During the storm, both the Port Huron police and fire departments had multiple units responding to calls, including all available fire apparatus being put into service during the storm.
In a message to local media, City Manager James Freed said Port Huron was seeing “too many trees down to keep up” and that the cleanup was expected to “take days, not hours.”
DTE officials say they expect to have power restored to 95% of it’s customers by the end of Friday.
