Monday, December 23, 2013

Winter Storm Gemini: Power Outages Could Last Days in Michigan

weather.com and The Associated Press Published: Dec 23, 2013, 6:01 PM EST
Overlay

Major Ice Storm for New England

Autoplay
On
Off
Winter Storm Gemini was winding down over New England Monday, but thousands of families could be spending Christmas Day without power after the storm brought down trees and utility lines from the Midwest to New England during the weekend.
(PHOTOS: Gemini's Icy Blast)
Michigan appears to be dealing with the worst lingering impacts in the U.S. The National Weather Service says 12.9 inches of snow fell in Gaylord, Mich., which is in the northern half of the state. Power companies are telling some communities it could be days before the lights come back on. You can see a full breakdown below:
Play Video
Overlay

Storm Watch

Autoplay
On
Off

Maine

In Maine, the number of people without power spiked to more than 68,000. A medical clinic in Bangor lost power, forcing walk-in patients to seek other options.
"It's certainly not going away," Margaret Curtis, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Gray, Maine, said Monday of the precipitation and cold. "In fact, we don't have very many areas where we're expecting temperatures to rise above freezing."
Authorities reduced the speed limit along a 107-mile stretch of the Maine Turnpike from Kittery to Augusta as freezing rain continued to fall Monday morning and temperatures hovered around freezing.

Michigan

More than 390,000 homes and businesses were without power Monday in Michigan, upstate New York and northern New England, down from Sunday's peak of more than half a million. Most were in Michigan, whose largest utilities said it'll be days before power is restored because of the difficulty of working around broken lines.
In Maine, the number of customers without power spiked to more than 78,000, and the cold persisted.
"It's certainly not going away," Margaret Curtis, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Gray, Maine, said Monday. "In fact, we don't have very many areas where we're expecting temperatures to rise above freezing."
CMS Energy Corp. says 285,000 of its power customers were affected, and 202,000 remain off line at mid-day Monday. DTE Energy Co. says work is underway to restore service to 65,000 blacked-out customers out of about 148,000 affected since the storms hit. The Lansing State Journal says about 35,000 customers of the city's power company lost service, and about 30,000 remain off line Monday.
That means untreated roads and sidewalks from the upper Midwest to northern New England will remain a slippery, dangerous mess as people head out for last-minute shopping or holiday travel.

New York State

About 25,000 utility customers in western and northern New York remain without electricity after a weekend ice storm knocked tree limbs onto power lines. Most of the outages early Monday afternoon are National Grid customers, including 11,700 in Jefferson County on Lake Ontario's eastern shore. Another 5,200 homes and businesses in neighboring St. Lawrence County are without power, and Lewis Count has another 800 outages. About 7,500 outages are reported in Erie, Niagara and Orleans counties.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo declared a winter ice storm emergency for western and northern areas and he activated the state Emergency Operations Center.

Vermont

The Vermont Department of Health is warning residents to be careful with generators and other equipment after the weekend ice storm resulted in a spike in carbon monoxide poisonings. The Department of Health says there were about half a dozen reports of people being sickened by carbon monoxide poisoning in one day -- about what the state usually sees in a winter.
Generators, charcoal grills or hibachis should never be used indoors, and officials say snow and ice should be cleared from gas appliance vents outside. They also say kitchen gas stoves should not be used for heating. Carbon monoxide is a potentially fatal colorless and odorless gas. Early symptoms include headache, dizziness and nausea.
MORE FROM WEATHER.COM: Winter Storm Gemini Photos

Kansas

This iWitness photo of Salina, Kansas was taken by Jamie Gans. (Photo credit: Jamie Gans)

No comments:

Post a Comment