U.S. Rep. Jack Bergman visited storm-damaged areas of northern Michigan on Saturday. The Republican from Watersmeet said he was in Cheboygan, Atlanta and Gaylord.
"You can't believe what happened up there," he told IPR. "These telephone poles look like toothpicks that were just snapped."
In addition to snapping utility poles, the massive ice storm which hit on March 29 and 30 brought down trees and power lines, leaving more than 100,000 people in the dark and many without heat.
Bergman told IPR a camp is being set up at the fairgrounds in Gaylord to stage response and construction equipment. Bucket trucks were also staged at a state park in Traverse City.
He complimented the state’s response and said he’s not sure yet whether the Federal Emergency Management Agency will get involved. But he said federal aid has helped in previous disasters, like massive flooding in Houghton in June 2018.
“Back then, when we sought federal aid, we got it," Bergman said. "We’re using that model now to submit the paperwork to see how it’s going to work. But you know, FEMA’s just a bureaucracy. It’s not an entity that really does anything. So we’re working right now at the federal level to see what the channels are.”
In that 2018 flooding, FEMA granted aid for public infrastructure repair, but not individual assistance.
Electrical service
Consumers Energy officials reported that crews — theirs and from neighboring states — were finishing power restoration for the last remaining customers impacted by the ice storm.
Between the ice and separate storms that saw nine tornadoes hit southern Michigan, a total of 390,000 Consumers customers found themselves in the dark this past week.
It was a different story for Great Lakes Energy, which said Saturday that its crews had restored power to about 57 percent of its members who were impacted by the storm, including nearly 12,000 households and businesses in the last two days.
"This isn't just a restoration — it's a rebuild following a truly unprecedented and catastrophic weather event," said Shaun Lamp, the co-op's CEO, in a statement. "Crews are replacing hundreds of poles, transformers and miles of wire."
Similarly, Presque Isle Electric & Gas said 53 percent of its members had service restored, with CEO Allan Berg vowing not to rest until everyone had the lights back on. He said he was among those still without power.
