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Winds topping 70 mph (112 kph) were possible for the middle of
Tennessee, with a chance of tornadoes as well as hail as large
as 2 inches (5 centimeters) Sunday night, the National Weather
Service said.
“Have your safe place cleaned out just in case,” forecasters
said on social platform X.
More than 400,000 power outages were reported in Michigan,
Indiana and Wisconsin. Churches that had power, as well as
schools and fire halls, were turned into warming centers as
utilities worked to restore electricity, a job that will likely
stretch into Monday in small communities and rural pockets.
The Weather Service office in Gaylord, Michigan, was in the
middle of it, saying on X: “Accumulations range here from a half
inch to nearly a whole inch of ice!”
Despite the calendar showing spring, “it's still winter,” said
Ryan Brege, managing director of the Alpena County, Michigan,
Road Commission, 250 miles (402 kilometers) north of Detroit.
Alpena Power said nearly all of its 16,750 customers — homes and
businesses — were in the dark. Many churches without power in
Wisconsin and Michigan were forced to cancel Sunday services.
"We pray that everyone stays safe!” said Calvary Lutheran Church
in Merrill, Wisconsin.
Jesika Fox said she and her husband drove more than 40 minutes
from their home in Alpena, Michigan, to find fuel for a
generator. Her family lost power Saturday night but kept the
house warm by using a fan to circulate heat from a gas-burning
stove.
“We just passed a veterinary clinic. The entire front corner of
the building was taken out by a tree,” said Fox, 36.
Sarah Melching, emergency services manager in nearby Presque
Isle County, said virtually the entire county — population
13,200 — has no power.
“There are trees still falling down. It’s kind of ruthless out
there,” Melching said.
Authorities in South Carolina reported progress Sunday in
controlling wildfires in the Blue Ridge mountains. The Table
Rock and Persimmon Ridge fires have burned about 17 square miles
(44 square kilometers). Mandatory evacuations were ordered
Saturday for some residents of Greenville County.
“Thank you for the prayers. They’re being heard. There’s rain in
the air," said Derrick Moore, operations chief for the
firefighting Southern Area Blue Team.
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