Thousands remain without power following severe storms and tornadoes across Michigan ⋆ Michigan Advance

Damage from the Aug. 24, 2023 tornado in Williamston, Aug. 28, 2023 | Susan J. Demas

Michiganders throughout the state are continuing to sort through the aftermath of severe storms and multiple tornadoes, facing flooding, power outages and damage from the storms.

A bout of severe thunderstorms Wednesday and early Thursday morning led to flooding, road closures and stranded vehicles in Wayne and Monroe counties. Michigan was hit by even more severe weather Thursday evening with the National Weather Service (NWS) later reporting seven tornadoes across the state.

According to the NWS, tornadoes were confirmed in Williamston and Webberville near Lansing; Canton, Belleville, Newport, South Rockwood and Gibraltar in Southeast Michigan; and Alpine and Plainfield townships in West Michigan.

As utilities slowly restore power after ice storm, residents and lawmakers say more must be done

While most of the tornadoes were classified as EF-1 or moderate intensity, the tornado in Williamston and Webberville was classified as EF-2, or strong, while the tornado in Canton was classified as EF-0, or weak.

According to the Michigan State Police’s MIREADY program, which provides resources and education preparing Michigan residents for emergencies, disasters and homeland threats the state has an average of 15 tornadoes a year.

At least five people died as a result of last week’s severe weather, with several others injured. According to a report from the Associated Press, an 84-year-old woman was killed after a tree fell on her house. Another person was confirmed dead after Ingham County Sheriff’s Deputies were called to a stretch of I-96 near Williamston in response to a possible tornado. A 21-year-old Kent County woman and two young girls were also killed in a head-on collision Thursday night during the rainstorm.

Hundreds of thousands of households across the state also reported power outages resulting from the storms.

According to an email from Marquia Mann, senior communications strategist for DTE Energy, which supplies power to a large portion of southeast Michigan, 50,000 customers lost power on Wednesday night. While 85% of customers had their power restored, Thursday’s storms increased the amount of damage to DTE’s energy system.

As of 1:50 p.m. Monday, more than 21,000 households were reporting power interruptions.

In a social media post, Consumers Energy announced Monday morning that power had been restored to 83% of the nearly 200,000 customers who lost power during Thursday’s severe storms. The company’s outage map reported 583 outages affecting 24,200 customers.

The Lansing Board of Water and Light, which supplies power to customers in the greater Lansing area, initially reported 33,000 customers were without power following Thursday’s storms. As of 3:50 p.m. on Monday, 4,758 customers were still impacted by outages.

In response to the severe storms, flooding and outages across the downriver area and western Wayne County, state Sen. Darrin Camilleri (D-Trenton) issued a statement on Thursday updating residents on efforts to address the damage.

“Last night’s storms were devastating to our Downriver and Western Wayne communities, and I have been working with the governor’s office and checking in with local officials to help coordinate mitigation efforts and get residents the assistance they need,” Camilleri said.

Wayne County Executive Warren C. Evans also declared a state of emergency, with Canton, and downriver communities being particularly hard hit.

“Our communities have seen an unprecedented amount of rainfall in a short amount of time. Trees are down, power lines are down, and many have no electricity,” Evans said in a statement. “This state of emergency will assist us in receiving additional support and resources from the state of Michigan. I am invested in the health and safety of our residents, and we are working to ensure they have what is needed to recover.”

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer declared a state of emergency in Wayne and Monroe counties on Friday to provide additional state resources and assistance in addressing widespread flooding and damage related to the storms.

Whitmer expanded the state of emergency on Monday to include Eaton, Ingham and Livingston counties and the city of South Lyon in Oakland County.

“This action will ensure we efficiently and effectively distribute state resources to communities in need. We have been through a lot over the last week, but I know we will get through it together. Michiganders are tough and we have each other’s backs,” Whitmer said in a statement.

Lawmakers, advocates and independent citizens have repeatedly raised concerns about the state of Michigan’s electrical reliability amid worsening weather conditions.

After a severe ice storm in late February left hundreds of thousands without power, the Michigan House Energy, Communications and Technology Committee held a hearing to address the state’s “unacceptable” energy reliability. Members of the legislature launched the bipartisan Michigan House Energy Reliability, Resilience, and Accountability (ERRA) Task Force to develop policy recommendations to address reliability concerns.

The task force, which is led by state Rep. Helena Scott (D-Detroit), has traveled across the state for a listening tour to hear from residents who lost power during the February ice storm. The final stop of the tour is scheduled in Pleasant Ridge on Wednesday.

According to a report from the Citizens Utility Board of Illinois, Michigan was ranked among the worst in the nation for energy reliability, placing 46th out of all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

While lawmakers in both the House and Senate have introduced clean energy legislation aimed at addressing the state’s energy reliability concerns, in addition to lowering energy costs, state Rep. Donavan McKinney (D-Detroit) said lawmakers will need to find solutions for folks who continue to face outages.

McKinney’s district, which covers Northeast Detroit alongside parts of Macomb County in Warren and Center Line, has been particularly hard hit by outages. Some residents in his district lost power for 45 consecutive days, McKinney said during an Aug. 10 press conference.

While a few thousand residents remained without power on Monday, most of McKinney’s constituents have regained power, he said.

Lightning fills the sky over the Michigan Capitol during a storm on Aug. 24, 2023. | Photo by Anna Gustafson

Damage from the Aug. 24, 2023 storm in Lansing north of the Capitol, Aug. 28, 2023 | Susan J. Demas

Damage from the Aug. 24, 2023 tornado in Williamston, Aug. 28, 2023 | Susan J. Demas

Damage from the Aug. 24, 2023 tornado in Williamston, Aug. 28, 2023 | Susan J. Demas

Damage from the Aug. 24, 2023 storm in Lansing north of the Capitol, Aug. 28, 2023 | Susan J. Demas

Damage from the Aug. 24, 2023 storm in Lansing north of the Capitol, Aug. 28, 2023 | Susan J. Demas

Damage from the Aug. 24, 2023 tornado in Williamston, Aug. 28, 2023 | Susan J. Demas

Damage from the Aug. 24, 2023 tornado in Williamston, Aug. 28, 2023 | Susan J. Demas

Damage from the Aug. 24, 2023 tornado in Williamston, Aug. 28, 2023 | Susan J. Demas

Damage from the Aug. 24, 2023 tornado in Williamston, Aug. 28, 2023 | Susan J. Demas

A fallen tree beside the road in Brighton Township in Livingston County, following severe storms on Aug. 23 and 24, 2023. | Kyle Davidson

Fallen tree limbs sit in the road in Brighton Township in Livingston County, following severe storms on Aug. 23 and 24, 2023. | Kyle Davidson

Damage from the Aug. 24, 2023 tornado in Williamston, Aug. 28, 2023 | Susan J. Demas

Lightning fills the sky over the Michigan Capitol during a storm on Aug. 24, 2023. | Photo by Anna Gustafson

As lawmakers work to pass solutions to improve access to solar energy, to build out energy storage systems and to empower the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC), which regulates electrical companies in the state, McKinney noted these solutions will take time.

“In the meantime, what do we do for folks that are continuously going to be suffering from, you know, major storms?” McKinney said.

“We’re not alone in this; this is a nationwide thing, worldwide thing, with climate change. Storms are getting more powerful. They’re getting more dangerous. They’re happening more often. And they’re impacting these overburdened communities, because of the lack of infrastructure investment over time,” he said.

Environmental justice advocates have raised concerns about energy affordability, reliability and grid maintenance along race and class lines.

“If you look at the grid, as it serves Detroit, we experienced what we like to call utility redlining. So the poorer areas of Detroit, the areas of Detroit that have higher concentrations of folks of color, basically, grid maintenance is not prioritized for those areas, and they’re actually operating on older poles and wires than a lot of the more developed areas,” said Roshan Krishnan, policy associate for the Michigan Environmental Justice Commission in a previous interview with the Advance.

To address these concerns, McKinney said he and other Democrats in the house are working on a package of bills that would increase the credit Michigan energy companies must pay to customers impacted by outages.

The Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) approved new energy reliability standards in March, which increased the credit customers receive prolonged power outages to $35 a day.

“I’m a big proponent of ensuring that we invest in people’s pockets, ensuring that once their medicine goes bad or their groceries go bad, they have the necessary means and resources to buy it back,” McKinney said.

“From my point of view, my vantage point, that $35 isn’t enough for prolonged power outages,” McKinney said.

Additionally, lawmakers need to look at ways to empower the MPSC to ensure consumers receive their power outage credit, McKinney said, noting some of his constituents had reported not receiving their credits.

“I think this will be a good business move from DTE, I really do. And from Consumers [Energy] and a lot of the public utilities because it shows a good faith effort that we understand what you’re going through, and we care,” he said.

SUPPORT NEWS YOU TRUST.

by Kyle Davidson, Michigan Advance August 28, 2023

Our stories may be republished online or in print under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. We ask that you edit only for style or to shorten, provide proper attribution and link to our web site. Please see our republishing guidelines for use of photos and graphics.

Kyle Davidson covers state government alongside health care, business and the environment. A graduate of Michigan State University, Kyle studied journalism and political science. He previously covered community events, breaking news, state policy and the environment for outlets including the Lansing State Journal, the Detroit Free Press and Capital News Service.