ESCANABA, Mich. (WZMQ) – Over the weekend, Upper Peninsula municipalities responded to power outages and damage caused by the ice storm.
In Delta County, fallen power lines closed part of US 2-41 for approximately six hours, beginning around 6:30 Sunday evening. Crews shut down the portion of the road going in and out of Escanaba as they worked to safely move and fix the power lines.
Sunday was a bit quieter within the city limits. According to Electric Utility Director Gerald Pirkola, Escanaba only experienced a few power outages, which he says is partially thanks to preventative work linemen have been doing this winter.
“Some trees came down, taking out some customers’ services, but we attribute the amount of tree trimming that we’ve been doing to not having as many outages,” said Pirkola. “Over the past few years, we’ve been doing a lot more tree trimming than normal, so it’s showing that it’s really helping.”
Tree trimming has concluded for the season, although City Electric Department crews continue to trim trees when needed throughout the year.
“It’s warming up now, so a lot of ice is falling off of trees and lines,” Pirkola said. “Things are starting to get better.”
As of Monday morning, Escanaba had no power outages. The City sent a crew to help the Alger Delta Cooperative Electric Association restore power to neighboring communities.
