ESCANABA, Mich. (WZMQ) – Across the U.P., Wednesday’s weather event left many without electricity.
The City of Escanaba experienced small pockets of outages throughout the day. Electric Department crews got to work early in the day to restore power to customers.
“It’s a lot of individual households, and there’s some areas where a block or two are out,” said Escanaba Electric Utility Director Gerald Pirkola. “Our line crew has been busy all morning tackling these outages.”
According to Pirkola, the outages were caused by a combination of trees and branches falling onto power lines, as well as ice forming on the lines.
“The wind is coming out of the east, and it normally doesn’t blow that way,” he explained. “When trees start bending the other way, they tend to break. It appears that we could have more ice, and that could prove more challenging if we get that ice accumulation.”
Pirkola reminds residents not to touch fallen power lines. Anyone who sees a fallen line is asked to call the City Electric Department at (906) 786-0061or 911 as soon as possible.
