By Sylvia Benavidez
On Sunday winds picked up by 4 p.m. in the area with heavy rain and small hail following. The rain and gusts of wind rose and fell until 8 p.m. with the National Weather Service reporting gusts from 80 to 90 mph. The storm moved east leaving branches and other tree debris not only in city streets, but on local highways too. As of Tuesday, repair crews were still out restoring power to the area. Duck Lake Tavern reported on social media that they were still feeding crews. As of Tuesday afternoon, Consumer Energy’s reported that people were still without power.
Albion Department of Public Safety Director Aaron Phipps said, “The calls started coming in quickly around 6:12 p.m. until 10:31 p.m. Of the 22 calls during that time, officers went out and answered 12 service calls about trees on wires including one tree leaning on a house, and two trees and wires on cars. We had at least two calls of gas odors with one call having a pilot light out. Albion College’s Ludington Center sustained roof damage as well as debris and power outages on campus. A lot of fire and burglar alarms went off.”
Phipps went out and surveyed the city when it was safe to do so. He said, “All trains were eventually stopped because of the storm damage. The Monroe Street armed guard was broken, causing one train to come through town very slowly. Amtrak was here right away by 8 p.m. repairing it.” He either heard from his officers or saw himself damage around the city which included seeing debris in streets, lines down, and large tree branches down. He explained, “Linden Street had a wire down and Erie Street had a tree blocking the road.” He also reported city hall had no phone service or internet Monday and that not all barricades in the city are there because of Sunday’s thunderstorm. “Some roads have barricades due to scheduled maintenance and not because of the storm.”
Sunday, this reporter was riding in a compact car on I94 between Jackson and Albion when the worst of it hit the area around 4 p.m. The rain was so heavy at times all in the car reported they could only see to the edge of hood. The person driving pulled over to an open area and moving onto the shoulder as much as possible was the best decision to avoid trees, branches, and other vehicles. At least four vehicles pulled over around us. While waiting the storm out on the shoulder, the vehicle vibrated due to the conditions, and the small hail felt like hundreds of stones hitting the windshield. There was a reason for car’s movement, the U.S. National Weather Service recorded Thunderstorm wind gusts between 80 to 110 miles per hours ripping its way through much of southwest lower Michigan. Jackson Airport reported a 96-mph gust.
From Phipps’ observations and reports the east side of Albion sustained more damage but overall, no injuries were reported as a result of the storm. However, one person was injured as tornado hit at least seven locations in southwestern Michigan and in the nothern part of Michigan in the lower and upper peninsula they are still dealing with the results of ice and snowstorms. The National Weather Service reported as of April 1, at 4 p.m., six tornadoes touched down in Michigan with the first being in Caledonia in Kent County, with winds reaching 110 mph in Ingham County for their tornado touchdown. Newago County, Montcalm, and Ionia County also had touchdowns with Ionia having two and the seventh confirmed in Cass County.
