The overnight ice storm, combined with waves of wet, heavy snow, have caused big problems across the Upper Peninsula.
The Upper Peninsula Power Company, as of 12:20 Wednesday afternoon, still had 6,651 customers without power. Most of them were in the Escanaba area (2,973 customers) and in the Houghton area (2,357 customers).
Trees throughout the Upper Peninsula remain covered in a thick layer of ice, which has weighed down some power lines. In a noontime tweet, UPPCO wrote that “icy conditions and inclement weather continues to persist, causing power outages to occur throughout UPPCO’s service territory.”
They say that crews are working as fast as possible to restore power under difficult conditions.
We Energies, which serves southern U.P. counties bordering Wisconsin, reported 6,213 customers without power in Menominee and Dickinson Counties as of 12:30 ET/11:30 CT. Another 240 customers were in the dark in Iron County.
Nearly every school district in the central U.P. closed on Wednesday, although Ishpeming and NICE Community Schools had classes by virtual learning.
Bay College, which rarely closes, cancelled classes on Wednesday in Escanaba. And Northern Michigan University cancelled morning and afternoon classes, with a decision on evening classes still pending.
In the eastern U.P., the Cloverland Electric Co-op had 2,182 customers without power, including all of its 786 customers on Delta County’s Garden Peninsula. The Michigan State Police closed the 00.25 Road between 17th Road and 19th Lane in Garden Township because of “multiple downed power line poles blocking the roadway”.
The Garden Township Fire Department was helping troopers with traffic, and they suggest people stay home.
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