Lenawee County History: Ice storms have wreaked havoc before

Twelve years ago, almost to the day, Lenawee County was hit by a significant ice storm that disrupted power for thousands across the area.

The county has been affected by a number of ice storms over the years. One of the earlier reported ones took place in March 1922. Another in March 1997 wreaked havoc across the region as well.

An ice storm that many may remember was the one that hit on a late Sunday night into Monday in February 2011.

During the overnight hours of Feb. 20-21, a thick coating of ice blanketed lower Michigan, snapping trees, downing power lines and making daily life difficult for many. The storm left 17,873 Lenawee County customers without power as of noon that Monday. A total of 109,000 Consumers customers in southern Michigan were without power. Hundreds of flights were canceled at Detroit Metropolitan Airport.

Electrical service was not expected to be restored to many affected Lenawee County customers until Wednesday evening, Terry DeDoes from Consumers Energy said. The hardest hit areas around Adrian and Blissfield would likely not be fully restored until Thursday, he predicted.

With that news, any motel or hotel in the area with lights and heat were booked solid by mid-Monday. The phones rang incessantly at each place as people looking for a warm place to stay ran through the telephone directory. Those without luck had to find other ways to get through the cold days and colder nights. Blankets and generators became impossible to find.

Many would find themselves without electric power for nearly five days. The Telegram did not have power for most of the week, and neither did the writers. We were able to secure a portion of a conference room at the Carlton Lodge in Adrian, taking turns writing stories on a solitary computer, charging our phones and cameras at coveted outlets. I went out to the various stores to check on the availability of staple food items. Most places were out of bread, milk and water.

The Adrian Kmart, however, had been largely overlooked by people's demand for water. Employees had rolled out large supplies of bottled and gallon water, but few came to the struggling store. I bought a couple of gallons and took one to a family in Madison Township.

Later in the week, then-state Sen. Bruce Caswell said those who faced outages of 120 hours or more could apply for a $25 credit from their utility company. My power was restored after 112 hours, too late to save some perishable items in the fridge, but too soon to receive a little money to ease the burden of replacing those things. I had a small propane fireplace, which kept my place at about 44 degrees most of the week. It was enough to keep the pipes from freezing, and I refreshed my camping skills, grateful that I had a sleeping bag rated for freezing temperatures.

Fast forward to Feb. 22, 2023.

This year, some-30,000 Consumers Energy customers in Lenawee County were left without service starting the afternoon of Feb. 22. At about 6 p.m. Wednesday, I logged in to all the major utility outage maps. It was discouraging to watch the number climb exponentially each time the pages auto-refreshed. Within hours, I saw the state numbers climb from 50,000 to over 200,000 customers without power. Hillsdale County had more than 90% of its residents lose electricity. Many of them received the same news as in 2011: restoration could take three, four days.

Thankfully, we were spared from the loss of electricity, living just on the edge of where massive outages started in a west-to-east band across Michigan. At the same time, we watched helplessly as cars parked along the street were hit by falling ice, branches and limbs. Lawns were coated in ice, with fallen limbs and partial trees frozen to the ground.

That same sleeping bag, and a couple more for the family, were on standby, just in case.

The utility workers are the unsung heroes during these times, spending days away from home, reducing the number of outages hour by hour. Each home and business restored is a victory in the ongoing work to reduce the power losses to zero.

History shows that, while we can never be fully prepared for a disruptive or dangerous weather event, we manage to get through them, with neighbors looking out for neighbors, more people having generators and faster-charging devices, to keep up with what to expect when Mother Nature deals a blow to Lenawee County and beyond.

Dan Cherry is a Lenawee County historian.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Telegram: Lenawee County History: Ice storms have wreaked havoc before