High winds leave many without power, spark some fires
Presque Isle Electric and Gas Co-op (PIE&G) predicts that more than 22,000 members lost power since Tuesday afternoon as a result of what forecasters are calling ?winds of historic proportions.?
As of 10:30 a.m. Thursday morning approximately 10,400 members remained without power in the aftermath of sustained winds, which reached 78 miles per hour near Mackinaw City Tuesday. Trees fell on power lines, snapping poles and entangling wires onto roofs and across roads and also sparked several fires across PIE&G?s nine county service area.
The largest numbers of PIE&G members who were still without power Thursday morning were located in the following service areas: much of Cheboygan County, Lewiston, Canada Creek/Atlanta and Lake Avalon/Beaver Lake.
All available personnel and outside utility contractors are working to restore service. Updates as to restorations will continue as assessments are made and repairs continue. Due to the record numbers of outages and the widespread nature of the catastrophic wind damage, all necessary repairs to complete restorations are expected to take several days and into the weekend.
One of the communities affected by the outages was Onaway, but city manager Joe Hefele praised the work of PIE&G in getting their service restored. ?I couldn?t be happier with PIE&G. In the midst of a very difficult day for the co-op the staff members I dealt with were calm, collected and efficient,? said Hefele.
The city had wells and sewer lift stations down and was forced to run portable generators from location to location to keep residents with water and without sewage in their basements.
?The PIE&G office staff got linesman in to address the matter and the linesmen identified and fixed the problems quickly. This is the type of service that makes me thankful that we have a local electric company with quality, caring employees,? said Hefele. PIE&G urges members still without power to prepare for extended outage times by asking individuals using medical equipment to have an emergency back-up plan, asking those using a portable generator to disconnect house circuits from utility power. PIE&G asks customers to never use a gas range for heating or charcoal as an indoor heating or cooking source.
Customers should assemble an emergency kit which includes a radio, flashlight, candles, matches and batteries. Customers should remember to stock up on blankets, fuel or wood and water and keep a corded or cell phone handy, as cordless phones do not work without electricity.
PIE&G provides electric and natural gas service to approximately 40,000 member-owners in a nine-county area of N
The Onaway Fire Department (OFD) responded to three power line related fires Wednesday, when this week?s wind storm was at its worst.
The first was at Onaway State Park around 2 p.m. According to chief Roger Nash, ?two lines touched, causing a small fire.? The Department of Natural Resources also responded to the scene to assist. Before clearing, crews were called to a second fire on South Third Street.
The last one was around 3:30 p.m. off Six Mile Highway. ?This one was harder to get to but we were able to put it out,? said Nash. OFD used its brush truck to pour about 300 gallons of water on it. The first two fires needed only about 30 gallons.