Storm damage recovery continues

By DAVID PANIAN

davidp@tecumsehherald.com

TECUMSEH — Residents continue to clean up and repair damage caused by a severe thunderstorm that struck the Tecumseh area July 3.

A severe thunderstorm warning was issued by the National Weather Service office near Pontiac at 5:24 p.m. July 3, and the storm arrived just after 5:30 p.m., bringing high winds and rain.

The most significant damage caused by the storm was the fire that reduced most of The Party Shop store on South Maumee Street to rubble. However, widespread power outages caused by winds that uprooted trees, felled branches and otherwise damaged power lines and utility poles left more than 4,000 Consumers Energy customers in the Tecumseh and Britton areas without power. Some did not have power restored until Monday. Consumers’ online outage map continued to show a few scattered outages in the Tecumseh area on Tuesday afternoon, but those were resolved later in the day.

Consumers had more than 460 crews from across Michigan and three other states working Monday to repair the remaining outages. Consumers Energy crews were joined by Michigan contractors and lineworkers from Ohio, Maryland and Alabama, a news release from the Jackson-based utility said. The company operated storm trailers and mobile command centers in hard-hit Allegan, Hillsdale and Adrian to bring supplies and resources into the field.

Lineworkers put in 16-hour shifts to restore power, Consumers said.

Across Tecumseh, residents were cleaning up fallen trees and branches. City officials asked residents to move trees and limbs to the curb so that Department of Public Works crews can pick them up. Tecumseh City Manager Brett Coker said Monday that the crews will be moving their way through the city to pick up the debris. City crews worked Friday evening and during the weekend on the initial response to the storm, Coker said. They are now doing cleanup work during their regular shifts.

“We appreciate your patience as city crews work to clean up from last week’s storms, a notice from the DPW said.

Several large trees were either uprooted or had large sections of their trunks split by the high winds. The National Weather Service office near Pontiac reported there were widespread wind gusts of 60 to 70 mph across southeastern Michigan during the storm.

One large tree fell on part of the Tecumseh First Presbyterian Church. A cluster of trees near the dog park at Cal Zorn Park was damaged as were trees at Tecumseh Park. Parks and Recreation Director Sarah Gilmore said two to four trees at each location likely will need to be removed. Even Tecumseh City Hall was not spared, as the tree between the parking lot and the police department addition was blown down.

Tecumseh Mayor Brian Radant, who also is on the fire department, said Monday that the fire department responded to 61 calls for downed trees and wires during the storm.