Friday, July 7, 2017

Man Killed As Powerful Storms Barrel Through Western Michigan; Thousands Without Power

Pam Wright
Published: July 7,2017

A Grand Haven man was killed early Friday as powerful storms moved through western Michigan.
According to Grand Haven Public Safety Director Jeff Hawke, the 72-year-old man was killed after a large tree fell on his home in Highland Park’s Poplar Ridge, WOOD-TV reports.
An upper-level disturbance moved through lower Michigan early Friday morning, which allowed strong to severe thunderstorms to develop, said weather.com meteorologist Linda Lam.
Destructive winds accompanied a thunderstorm that rolled through part of southwestern Michigan from Muskegon to south of Lansing, Lam said.
Nearly 150,000 Consumers Energy customers lost power during the fast-moving storms, which packed winds of more than 90 mph.
"A mesonet station two miles west of Grand Haven measured a 91 mph wind gust at 2:52 am EDT," Lam said.
The outages forced schools and businesses to close Friday, the Norton Shores Police Department told WOOD-TV.
According to the National Weather Service, wind gusts of 50 to 80 mph were clocked throughout the region.
Authorities say power to some may not be restored until Sunday evening.
Resident Tom Donahue told WZZM-TV that the storm was very loud as it moved through.
"It sounded like a jet engine, a jet plane, was parked on my deck," he said. "It was so loud. I couldn't believe how loud it was. It's the biggest storm I've ever been in."
Numerous trees and wires were down by high winds throughout western Michigan, leading to multiple road closures.
This is a developing story. Come back for more details.
MORE: Frozen Michigan Lighthouses



The Weather Company’s primary journalistic mission is to report on breaking weather news, the environment and the importance of science to our lives. This story does not necessarily represent the position of our parent company, IBM.

No comments:

Post a Comment