IRON MOUNTAIN, Mich. (WZMQ) – In the aftermath of a fierce spring blizzard in Dickinson County, electricians respond to calls about downed power lines, leaving homes disconnected from the grid. Shawn Brooks, the owner of G. Brooks Electric, described the chaos caused by the wet and heavy snow, which often tears branches from trees, pulling power lines away from houses. Brooks said one Kingsford home was hit by a heavy branch, tearing the service right off the side of the house.
“With the wet and heavy snow, most of the time, it tears a branch of a tree that’s been falling over the line, and pulling it [away] from the house,” Brooks explained. “A heavy branch tore the service off.”
Brooks emphasized the division of responsibility between homeowners and power companies. “The wire coming to the house is the power company’s responsibility, but the rest of the equipment on the house is the homeowner’s responsibility,” he said. “If your equipment is laying on the ground next to where the meter is, it’s your responsibility to contact an electrician to get it put back up, and then the power company can reconnect it.”
He noted that some homeowners might mistakenly assume that their neighbors’ homes still having electricity means it’s a broader issue. “They noticed that all their neighbors still have electricity and they don’t. It could just be their stuff that got torn off,” he explained. “It’ll happen with metal roofs and heavy wet snow. Also, if they’re on the eaves side, the weight of the snow and ice will tear them off. This year, we’ve been pretty lucky with not a lot of accumulation.”
Reflecting on the pattern of storms, Brooks suggested that the frequency could affect the severity of damage. “I think a little bit depends on the frequency of the storms, because it seems like as the weak branches get broken off, there’s less of them tearing off electrical services, if that makes sense,” he observed.
For residents in Iron Mountain, Brooks urged them to contact their office at 906-774-5139 in case of emergencies related to the storm. He adds to make sure and mention the call is related to a storm emergency.
As a precautionary measure, Brooks advised homeowners to monitor ice accumulation on their roofs. “It would be a good idea for people to watch to make sure that there isn’t ice accumulating that can come off either the roof and tear their electrical service off,” he said. “If somebody has ice or snow accumulation, they should have somebody remove it before it all comes down at once.”
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