By Genine Hopkins
Roughly 1,200 residents at the North end of the Harrison area are currently without power as of the time we went to press (Thursday morning, June 11) and as more dynamic and severe storms sweep through in the afternoon and overnight on Thursday, that number could increase. Strong winds on Wednesday evening took out multiple trees and power lines including near Hampton Road in the Ash Acres Subdivision. The current restoration time – before the Thursday afternoon system hits – is 11 p.m. Thursday evening but that could be extended as storms roll through on Thursday.
When contacted, a resident said that when he reported the outage he was told there were over 70,000 people in Michigan without power and that the number was continuing to rise as unstable limbs keep downing wires. Consumer’s Energy apologized to the customer in Hayes Township and told them they were putting every team out to try to get power restored quickly.
Jerry Becker, Clare County’s Emergency Manager, was hard at work to determine what cooling stations would be open for residents, since Thursday’s forecasted high temperatures would be the hottest so far this summer, reaching into the upper 80s, with heat indices well into the 90s. As of the time of press, the list of cooling centers was not completed, but Becker said all information would be posted to the EMD’s Facebook page, Clare Emd. You can also keep updated for any severe weather or other emergencies on that Facebook page.
