Freezing rain in Michigan and Wisconsin lowered trees and power lines, cutting power to thousands of people in the Great Lakes region on Sunday, but forecasters said harsh weather was on their way to Tennessee.
Central Tennessee could wind 70 mph and could have a two-inch tornado on Sunday night, according to the National Weather Service.
“Just clean a safe place just in case,” the predictor said on social platform X.
Over 400,000 blackouts have been reported in Michigan, Indiana and Wisconsin. Churches, schools and firefighters in power have been transformed into warming centres as public works worked to restore electricity.
The Weather Service office in Gay Road, Michigan, is in the middle of it, and says in X:
“It’s still winter,” says Ryan Breage, managing director of the Michigan Highway Commission, 250 miles north of Detroit.
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Alpena Power said that almost all of its 16,750 customers (home and business) are in the dark. Many non-powerful churches in Wisconsin and Michigan have been forced to cancel Sunday services.
“We pray that everyone is safe!” said Calvary Lutheran Church in Merrill, Wisconsin.
Jessica Fox said she and her husband would drive from their home in Alpena, Michigan for more than 40 minutes to find fuel for the generator. Her family lost power on Saturday night, but they used their fans to circulate heat from the gas-burning stove to keep the house warm.
“We passed the veterinary clinic, and the entire front corner of the building was taken out of the tree,” Fox, 36, said.
Sarah Melting, emergency services manager for nearby Presque Island County, said effectively the entire county (population 13,200) had no electricity.
“There are still fallen trees. It’s kind of ruthless,” Melting said.
South Carolina officials reported progress on Sunday in controlling wildfires at Blue Ridge Mountain. The Table Lock and Persin Monridge fires burn about 17 square miles. A mandatory evacuation was ordered Saturday for some Greenville County residents.
“Thanks for the prayers. They’re being asked. It’s raining in the air,” said Derrick Moore, chief of operations for the Southern Area Blue Team, the fire service.
