Jason Wesseldyk
Sports Editor
For the second time in less than a month, a strong storm system ripped through the area.
The most recent of those storms hit the Otsego and Plainwell between 3:30 and 3:45 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 29. And while there were no reports of streets flooding as with the earlier storm, this one still left significant damage in its wake.
Dozens of trees were uprooted and power lines were knocked down, causing widespread power outages. Those outages affected both of the local school districts, as Otsego’s Alamo Elementary and Plainwell’s Cooper Elementary were both closed on Tuesday, Aug. 30, due to a lack of power.
In the City of Otsego, the Department of Public Works crew was busy trying to clear trees from the roadway.
“We have estimates of at least 30 trees blocking roads as a result of this storm,” Otsego City Manager Aaron Mitchell said. “Our priority is to get those areas cleaned up so people can get around and to make sure people can get out of their driveways so they can get to work and perform other necessary functions.”
Mitchell asked for the public’s patience as the DPW continued its cleanup effort.
“We have a small crew, but those guys are very skilled at what they do,” he said. “But it’s going to take time to clean up the amount of damage that was done. They’ll work as quickly as they can, but it will probably take a couple of weeks.”
Mitchell mentioned that two of the uprooted trees that are blocking roads are in the area where the Gus Macker basketball tournament took place the previous weekend.
“It’s kind of crazy to be standing where games had been being playing the previous day and see two of the four corners blocked by trees,” he said.
