Petoskey at total power loss, no timeline for restoration yet

PETOSKEY — Petoskey City Hall was bustling on Monday morning, but not with the usual tasks typically seen there.

Instead, the building was opened as a warming center for people to find some reprieve from powerless homes and cold temperatures. Many arrived with phones and computers to charge.

The city, and surrounding electrical service area, remains completely without power following destructive ice storms that swept through Northern Michigan over the weekend. There is no current timeline for service restoration.

According to the city’s website, the first power outage occurred at around 8 p.m. on Saturday that impacted about 50% of the city. Another substation went down at approximately 8:30 a.m. on Sunday, resulting in total power loss.

“Two substations are down currently. We get fed by a main transmission line above the Gaylord area that has been compromised in the storm,” said Petoskey City Manager Shane Horn. “Our main focus has been getting that substation up and running. That would help us power about 50% of the city and then we can reroute from that station to get the rest of the city up and running.”

More: PHOTOS: Ice storm aftermath in Northern Michigan

Subscribe: Check out our offers and read the local news that matters to you

Horn said they had been making progress on Sunday, but then another round of freezing rain and snow hit the area.

“Unfortunately, the weather last night set us back a little bit on that effort,” he said. “We lost a number of additional electrical poles and lines in the city. We are kind of scrambling again, which likely means that we may be without power a few more days.”

Along with city crews, electrical crews from around the state and from out-of-state are helping with the restoration efforts.

“We’ve been in contact through the (Emmet) County emergency manager’s office working directly with the governor’s office, trying to get state support services directed our way due to this emergency that we’re currently experiencing in our region,” Horn said. “The governor’s office has been very supportive of directing additional resources our way.”

For example, Horn said they are expecting to receive shipments of fuel that they can set up at the fairgrounds for first responders and crews.

“One of the challenges we’re dealing with, which we didn’t really anticipate, is access to fuel for our public safety, our first responders, our crews that are out in the field,” he said. “We’ve been having to go outside of our area to find fuel. We will be addressing that.”

Once power is restored, Horn said they will turn their attention to a “pretty massive clean-up effort.”

“It’s going to be a pretty large undertaking but we have great support services that we’re going to be leaning on,” he said. “We have a great staff here in the city, so we will take as much time as we need to make sure everybody’s trees and limbs are addressed appropriately.”

In the meantime, thousands in the area remain without power and heat, with temperatures expected to dip well below freezing.

“This is becoming a life and safety issue for a lot of people, when you have power loss and you have power loss on top of (freezing temperatures),” Horn said. “We certainly want people to take advantage of the warming centers that are available. Our warming center will remain open 24/7. We have volunteers that are lined up to provide rides and assistance to get people here, as well as the casino warming center. The casino has been very gracious with their resources as well.”

For more information, visit petoskey.us.

— Contact Jillian Fellows at jfellows@petoskeynews.com.   

This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Petoskey at total power loss due to ice storms, no timeline for restoration yet

This post was originally published on here