Christopher Haxel

Lansing State Journal

Current numbers updated at 10:54 p.m. Wednesday.

(Note: See photos and what people are saying about the outage at the bottom of this story)

LANSING - More than 34,000 utility customers in the Lansing area were without power on Wednesday after strong winds pummeled the state for much of the day, downing trees and power lines and overturning vehicles locally.

More than 850,000 homes and businesses were without power around the state, and Gov. Rick Snyder activated the state’s Emergency Operations Center to help coordinate a response to the windstorm.

As of 10 p.m., about 212 electrical lines were down across its service area, leaving 13,273 customers without power, according to a Lansing Board of Water & Light news release.

The outages were scattered across the region and were largely caused by trees and branches knocking down power lines, BWL spokesman Steve Serkaian said.

The publicly owned utility brought in more than a dozen line crews from across Michigan, Indiana and Iowa and about as many outside tree crews to help with restoration, officials said.

With the winds still blowing hard and new outages being reported, it was tough to gauge how long it might take to restore power to customers, Serkaian said. But it's clear that a "significant number" of affected customers would be without power overnight, he said. And the utility is estimating that some customers won't have their power restored until Friday.

BWL customers can check their restoration estimates by texting “out” or “outage” to 898295 or txtbwl, according to the news release.

As of about 5 p.m., Consumers Energy had more than 260,000 outages across the state, and that number was climbing, spokesman Terry DeDoes said. About 15,000 of the Consumers Energy outages were located in Clinton, Eaton and Ingham counties. DTE Energy had more than 630,000 customers without power in southeast Michigan as of 4:30 p.m.

Consumers said it could take until Sunday to restore power to customers in the hardest hit areas, which the company had not yet identified.

"Winds picked up across the whole state this morning around 7:15 a.m., and we started seeing the outage numbers start to build," DeDoes said. "These numbers are rising, so it’s going to be a while before we have a good grasp on what the estimated restoration times are."

The company posted online that some customers across the state could be without power for days.

"We’re in storm mode and will be working around the clock," DeDoes said.

Winds gusting to more than 60 mph downed trees and power lines, causing outages that darkened traffic signals and closed down work places. The wind storm also led to minor traffic crashes caused brush fires around the Lansing region.

The Lansing Fire Department responded to dozens of wind-related incidents, including a couple of minor structure fires and a number grass fires and tree fires caused by live electrical wires, said Steve Mazurek, a spokesman for the department.

At Michigan State University, a tree fell on the university’s music building on West Circle Drive about 4 p.m. and damaged a few tiles.

The tree was one of 350 Norway Spruce trees planted on campus around 1865, according to Frank Telewski, professor of plant biology and curator of the W.J. Beal Botanical Garden and Campus Arboretum.

In downtown Lansing, an exterior wall at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 218 W. Ottawa St., was seen pulling away from the ceiling and appeared ready to collapse. Officials blocked off nearby streets until the damage can be assessed.

A high wind warning was in effect for much of the region until 7 p.m.

VIDEO: Wind damages St. Paul's Episcopal Church

The strongest wind gust recorded in Lansing on Wednesday was 64 mph, according to the National Weather Service in Grand Rapids.

In downtown Lansing, an exterior wall at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 218 W. Ottawa St., was seen pulling away from the ceiling and appeared ready to collapse. Officials blocked off nearby streets until the damage can be assessed.

Government services impacted

In Mason, 55th District Court was without power, and officials said Wednesday afternoon the building would be closed for the day. The county Drain Commissioner's Office and Animal Control were also closed.

In Eaton County, the central dispatch center in Charlotte lost power just after 1 p.m., said director Michael Armitage.

The lights dimmed and a second later flicked back on as the facility's generator turned on, he said. Metal paneling was also blown off the roof.

Inside, dispatchers fielded calls at all seven stations. The center had received 239 calls by 1 p.m. That's double the amount received the day before by the same time.

"Whenever there's a big weather event, whether it be wind or snow or storms, it always gets very busy and hectic," he said. "It really picked up, probably between 9 and 10 a.m.”

Armitage said there have been no serious emergencies, but callers have reported downed electrical wires and subsequent brush fires caused by the live wires. The ramp at Interstate 69 and Cochran Road was closed briefly at 11:30 a.m. when a wire was reported on the road, he said.

"We've had a couple traffic accidents," Armitage said. "The wind can cause people to lose control of their vehicles. Sometimes (calls are) caused by confusion when lights are out."

Two vehicles overturn in Clinton County

The Clinton County Sheriff's Office has responded to a handful of traffic crashes caused by the high winds, but there have been no injuries, said Lt. Jeff Clarke.

A tractor-trailer overturned at 11:49 a.m. on South Wright Road and West Parks Road, Clarke said, and officials were responding to an overturned truck hauling a camper on U.S. 127 at M-21.

He said the Michigan State Police were assisting in the county.

"We're getting hammered up here," Clarke said.

"This is one of those times when we tell people, 'Don't drive high-profile vehicles,' because trucks and such get blown around by winds this strong," said Wayne Hoepner, a meteorologist for the weather service in Grand Rapids."

Anyone who comes across a downed power line should stay at least 25 feet away and call BWL at 877-295-5001. Consumers customers should call 800-477-5050.

BWL said customers who have experienced a single-service outage due to mast damage must have the damage repaired before BWL can restore power. Customers may use any of the BWL-approved electrical contractors to have repairs made and payments financed, interest-free, for 12 months. More information is available at http://www.lbwl.com/outagecenter<http://www.lbwl.com/outagecenter.

Check back for updates.

Reporters Ken Palmer, Rachel Greco, Beth LeBlanc and Justin Hinkley contributed to this report. Contact Christopher Haxel at 517-377-1261 or chaxel@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @ChrisHaxel.