1 day Ago By Hannah Broughton
The states of Michigan and Wisconsin were struck by freezing rain over the weekend, bringing down trees and power lines - cutting electricity for thousands of people on Sunday in the upper Great Lakes region. Meanwhile, forecasters said severe weather was on its way to Tennessee. Destructive winds could top 70 mph (112 kph) in the middle of Tennessee, with a chance of tornadoes along with hail as large as 2 inches (5 centimetres) Sunday night, the National Weather Service said.
Forecasters said on social platform X, “Have your safe place cleaned out just in case.” Highly contagious airborne disease outbreak in US sparks travel warning Dad makes friend dig own grave and kill himself after raping his daughter, six The bad weather resulted in more than 400,000 power outages in Michigan, Indiana and Wisconsin. Churches, schools, and fire halls that had power were turned into warming centers as utilities worked to restore electricity, a job that will likely stretch into Monday in small communities and rural pockets.
The Weather Service office in Gaylord, Michigan, said on X: “Accumulations range here from a half inch to nearly a whole inch of ice!” Although the calendar says the season is Spring, Ryan Brege said “It’s still winter.” Brege is the managing director of the Alpena County, Michigan, Road Commission, 250 miles (402 kilometres) north of Detroit. Alpena Power said nearly all of its 16,750 customers, homes and businesses, were in the dark.
Many of the churches without power in Wisconsin and Michigan were forced to cancel Sunday services. “We pray that everyone stays safe!” said Calvary Lutheran Church in Merrill, Wisconsin. Jesika Fox told AP she and her husband drove more than 40 minutes from their home in Alpena, Michigan, to find fuel for a generator.
Her family lost power on Saturday night but kept the house warm by using a fan to circulate heat from a gas-burning stove. She said, “We just passed a veterinary clinic. The entire front corner of the building was taken out by a tree.
” Sarah Melching, an emergency services manager in nearby Presque Isle County, said virtually the entire county, population 13,200, has no power. “There are trees still falling down. It’s kind of ruthless out there,” Melching said.
South Carolina authorities reported progress on Sunday in controlling wildfires in the Blue Ridge mountains. The Table Rock and Persimmon Ridge fires have burned about 17 square miles (44 square kilometres). Mandatory evacuations were ordered Saturday for some residents of Greenville County.
Derrick Moore, operations chief for the firefighting Southern Area Blue Team, said, “Thank you for the prayers. They’re being heard. There’s rain in the air.
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