Sturgis officials evaluate response to recent ice storm

STURGIS — The city of Sturgis has largely recovered from the ice storm that knocked out power to more than 800,000 people starting Feb. 22, with power restored to residents and fallen limbs and branches stacked up for disposal.

Statewide, the number of people affected by last week's ice storm and resulting power outages in southern Michigan had been reduced to around 50,000, although a second winter storm Feb. 27 affected more than 20,000 across mid-Michigan.

As of Tuesday morning, Consumers Energy reported 10 St. Joseph County residents remained without power, 728 in Branch County, 5,843 in Hillsdale County, and 8,338 in Lenawee County, down from 10,218 Monday night. Indiana Michigan Power’s outage map was clear of all outages attributed to the ice storm. Hillsdale County was the hardest hit county in southern Michigan, with 91% of its electrical customers without service at the height of the outage.

The city of Sturgis itself had approximately  850 outages during the two-day storm, with 15 employees working during the restoration, interim city manager Andrew Kuk said.

Crews worked throughout Wednesday night into Thursday to complete repairs, he said.

"Our crews worked diligently through the night and into the next day to restore service to our customers,” Kuk said. “As always, we appreciate their hard work to keep the lights on, especially during events like this with long hours and tough weather conditions."

While the city compost site is currently closed, city officials said, spring cleanup across town will start the first full week of April. Residents should hold any branches or limbs in their back yards and not on the terrace until just prior to pickup, officials said.

For Sturgis Public Schools Superintendent Art Ebert, calling school off is a “very important and complex decision,” particularly with last week’s ice storm.

“Our hope is to always keep school open, but safety conditions sometimes get in the way,” he said.

Ice events are many times the most difficult to predict, Ebert said, because a one-degree shift in temperature can drastically change ice formation on roads and power lines.

“I usually start monitoring weather one week out,” he said. As weather forecasts solidify, Ebert said he studies hourly wind, wind chill, precipitation and temperature predictions and confers “with the appropriate stakeholders that gather their thoughts.”

“Sometimes the decision is easy, especially when faced with a snow system with a high confidence of dumping large amounts of snow,” Ebert said. In those situations, Ebert tries to close school the night before so that parents, guardians and students can have ample time to determine alternate plans, including day care.

“When it is not as clear, like during Wednesday's school closing, I get up at 4 or 4:30 a.m. to drive the roads,” Ebert said. “What made Wednesday’s closing difficult is the storm appeared to be shifting north a few days prior; followed by a predicted shift south.”

On Wednesday morning, the roads were merely wet. However, the hourly forecast showed freezing rain throughout the school day with temperatures hovering between 30 and 32 degrees.

Ebert said that a judgment call needed to be made before any serious weather had taken over.

“I either had to play it safe or roll the dice that the roads would not ice,” Ebert said. In hindsight, school could have safely occurred on Wednesday, according to Ebert, because the roads remained mostly wet throughout the day.

Faced with the same set of data, however, “I likely would make the same decision again, because had the roads iced over, I would then be wishing that school were closed,” he said. Other factors in his decision-making include teenage drivers, students walking, students waiting at bus stops and when snow removal crews are able to get underway.

Michigan allows districts to cancel school up to six days per year for events such as inclement weather or power outages, without having to make up the days missed. For days beyond the allowance, Ebert said, the district would either need special state approval not to be made up, or they would need to be added to the school calendar. In those cases, planned school break days would either be taken off the calendar, or students could attend later into June.

Currently, Sturgis Public Schools has canceled school four times during the 2022-23 school year, leaving a few days more for more surprises from Mother Nature.

This article originally appeared on Sturgis Journal: Sturgis officials evaluate response to recent ice storm