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Why don't we bury our power lines?

Lewiston resident Wanda Whiting holds a photo of ice encasing tree branches from the March 2025 storm. (Photo: Vivian La/IPR News)
Lewiston resident Wanda Whiting holds a photo of ice encasing tree branches from the March 2025 storm. (Photo: Vivian La/IPR News)

A year ago — in the throes of an ice storm that had scattered tree limbs and power lines across northern Michigan — Wanda Whiting suddenly needed to get her husband to a hospital.

So she drove through the storm's aftermath, right across the power lines.

Would any of that have happened if the lines had been buried?

And one year later, do we have any plans to do that? IPR's Vivian La digs into that question.


Producer: Austin Rowlader
Editing: Steve Junker
Music: Blue Dot Sessions

Vivian La covers how climate change is impacting northern Michigan communities for IPR through a partnership with Grist.
Ed Ronco is IPR's news director and the local host of "Morning Edition."