Elisha Anderson

Detroit Free Press

Some 852,000 utility customers are without power in Michigan, and that number could continue to rise throughout the day because of high winds.

DTE Energy is reporting about 630,000 customers without power in southeast Michigan as of 6 p.m., and Consumers Energy was reporting more than 222,000 customers without power statewide due to the wind earlier today. The DTE Energy figure is the second-highest number of outages in the utility's history.

Two thousand power lines are down in DTE's coverage area, DTE officials said.

"The outages are widespread across the region, with the hardest hit areas in Wayne, Oakland, Macomb and Washtenaw counties," DTE Energy said in an update posted on Twitter.

The wind – at times gusting up in excess of 60 mph, according to DTE Energy – has downed trees and power lines, caused traffic signals to not work, led to work places closing and contributed to traffic accidents. It has led to extensive tree damage and more than 2,000 downed wires so far, according to DTE Energy's update.

"The priority of our crews is to first eliminate downed wires to ensure the safety of the public. Restoration estimates are currently unavailable until the weather has passed. DTE expects to to have restoration estimates tomorrow," according to DTE Energy's latest update.

Crews will be working 16-hour shifts around the clock to restore power, DTE Energy said, and additional crews from Kentucky, Indiana, Tennessee and Pennsylvania will be in Michigan on Thursday morning to help.

DTE Energy stated that because of the unusually warm weather this winter and significant rainfall, the ground is "very soft and saturated. This is causing trees to uproot in the high winds, damaging our power lines."

Also read:

Michigan teen gets 3-15 years for 110 mph crash that killed friend

Pontiac boys basketball forfeits out of state tournament

The National Weather Service issued a high wind warning from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. for all southeast Michigan. Sustained winds between 30 and 40 mph and gusts more than 60 mph. are expected.

A 68 m.p.h wind gust was recorded at Detroit Metro Airport, a 61 m.p.h gust came in at Coleman A. Young International Airport, a gust of 63 mph was recorded in Mount Clemens and Ann Arbor saw a 66 mph gust, according to the National Weather Service.

Bryan Tilley, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in White Lake Township, said the 68 mph gust at 11:48 a.m. today was not a record, adding he has seen higher wind gusts in his 22 years with the weather service.

Joseph Clark, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service's White Lake Township office, said the winds are expected to peak by 5 p.m. By 8 p.m., the gusts will settle down to about 30 mph, he said.

The National Weather Service is receiving reports of downed lines and downed trees in counties across southeast Michigan, he said. There was also a report of a commercial building that had its roof blown off in Saginaw.

Tilley said having a "wind event like this is unusual any time of the year." He said the wind event was widespread in southern lower Michigan, from Grand Rapids to southeast Michigan to the tri-cities of Saginaw, Bay City and Midland with multiple reports of 60 mph wind gusts. Also, it is a long duration event that started about 10 a.m. today "and is still going on," with a peak wind of 60 mph at 5 p.m. at Detroit Metropolitan Airport.

"We are going on eight hours here of extreme damaging wind," he said.

Tilley said a low pressure system north of the Great Lakes was moving slowly through northern Canada, allowing a cold front to go to the central Great Lakes with wind in front of the zone -- "strong winds with a strong cold front."

Thursday's forecast calls for a "standard early March" with highs in the upper 30s, cloudy and light winds from 5-15 mph, Tilley said. The rest of the weekend and weekend, however, will be getting gradually colder with highs in the 20s on Friday and lows Friday night into Saturday morning in the teens.

Also read:

As ice melts, dead fish will start piling up on Michigan lakes

Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said that the high winds have led to downed power lines, nonworking traffic signals, downed trees and traffic accidents across the county.

“Please do not go near a downed power line and be aware of the potential for fallen trees, branches, and blowing debris that may cause a potentially dangerous situation,” he said in a news release. "Please report any cases of power outages to your power company provider and report any emergency situations by dialing 911."

At least 80 traffic signals were knocked out by power failures in Oakland County. Another 48 had reverted to flashing mode, which they do when the power is interrupted temporarily, said Craig Bryson, spokesman for the Road Commission.

Related:

Wall of century-old church in Lansing could collapse in strong winds

Major intersections without working signals include Telegraph and Orchard Lake Road, Telegraph and Hickory Ridge, Woodward and Long Lake and Woodward and Maple in Downtown Birmingham.

“We’re going to be having crews go out with generators to the major intersections,” Bryson said.

The commission also was sending out trucks to clear streets blocked by fallen trees. They didn’t have to go far to find the first one.

“We were looking out the window of our office when we saw one fall on Lahser,” Bryson said.

The Road Commission office is on Lahser just north of 13 Mile. The tree blocked two lanes of traffic heading south before crews were able to clear it.

The numbers are changing constantly as new reports come in, Bryson said, but about 50 such calls had been logged so far.

“Some of those are whole trees fallen, others are branches that were blocking traffic,” Bryson said.

In Novi, firefighters are battling a brush fire fanned by the winds.

In Macomb and Wayne counties, there have also been reports of issues caused by outages.

The Macomb County Administration Building in downtown Mt. Clemens is without power, so it's closed for the remainder of the day. Other county buildings in Mt. Clemens, such as the Circuit Court, were not impacted and remain open.

The city of Sterling Heights said today in a release that GFL Environmental has agreed to pick up any tree branches and/or debris left from the today's windstorm for the next two weeks, providing it is placed by the curb properly. City residents can put branch and brush piles that are less than 4 feet long and securely tied and bundled at the curb through March 22, according to the release.

Deputy Macomb County Executive Mark Deldin said the administration building lost power about noon and there is no word from DTE Energy on when power is to be restored. A decision on whether to open the administration building Thursday will not be made until early Thursday morning. The building contains offices, such as the treasurer, prosecutor, executive and county commission, which had to reschedule a committee meeting today to tomorrow, if the building reopens.

If there is no power and no word from DTE on when power will be restored, officials will probably make the decision to keep the administration building closed, Deldin said.

In Warren, Mayor Jim Fouts posted on Facebook that there were more than 50 to 100 power lines out and that all lights on Mound between 12 Mile and 18 Mile are out. He wrote that the city's Community Emergency Response Team was activated and guarding downed lines.

Warren City Hall, police station and Stilwell Manor, a 120-unit low income apartment building owned and operated by the city for senior citizens, are on backup generators, Fouts said in his post. He wrote that Warren's district court is shut down.

Fouts said that Mound Road between 11 Mile and 13 Mile was closed both ways, Van Dyke and 11 Mile is closed, and Civic Center and Van Dyke is closed in addition to southbound Van Dyke and Martin and Martin and Hayes.

Fouts added later that a large tree toppled in Licht Park and a trampoline was taken by the wind in the Arden area and ended up in the middle of Hoover.

In Wayne County, Grosse Pointe Farms city and Grosse Pointe Woods city offices closed due to power outage, the cities said in a press release. And in Roseville, Utica Road between 12 Mile and Eastland is closed, police said.

"The winds are hitting our entire territory," DTE Energy spokeswoman Randi Berris said.

She said crews have been dispatched, but it's hard to say when power will be restored to customers because the crews are still assessing the damage. They will be working 16-hour shifts to restore power.

"Customers should stay at least 20 feet away from all power lines and anything they may contact, and consider them live," the utility said in a statement. "They are extremely dangerous. Treat every downed power line as if it is energized."

Meanwhile, Consumers Energy said some customers in the worst impacted areas may not have their power back until Sunday.

“We have crews working around the clock in difficult weather conditions and we appreciate our customers’ patience,” Guy Packard, vice president of energy operations, said in a news release. “With the rough weather continuing, we expect this to be a multi-day restoration effort.”

Despite the wind, 10-year-old Noah Irvine of Chesterfield Township held onto the top of a snapped flagpole so the American flag on it wouldn't touch the ground.

He spent the better part of the afternoon rollerblading in his grandparent's driveway despite the high winds. When he got hungry he went inside to eat an orange - roller blades still on -- “you know, the usual,” he said.

His grandfather told him they lost the flagpole from the winds. The American flag was hanging down and brushing the ground.

“That thing can’t touch the ground,” Noah said, “so I ran as fast as I could to pick it up.”

A POW/MIA flag flew just above the ground.

“We had just been talking about how to treat the flag the other day,” Noah's grandmother, Kathy Walker, 69, of Macomb Township said. “That one has a mind like steel. His father was a Marine, you know."

In a phone interview later, Noah said: “The American flag is safe – it’s inside.”

Staff Writers John Wisely, Christina Hall, Ann Zaniewski and Kathleen Galligan contributed to this report.

Contact Elisha Anderson: eanderson@freepress.com