COLDWATER, MI (WTVB) – The cleanup continues after a line of severe thunderstorms went through Branch and Hillsdale Counties early Thursday morning.
Thousands lost their power and morning commuters had to deal with roads that were blocked by fallen trees and wires.
The loss of power and blocked roads led to the canceling of classes in the Coldwater and Quincy schools districts which left school officials scrambling to reschedule some year end testing and activities.
The storms moved into Branch County just after 5:00 a.m.
The Branch County Memorial Airport recorded a 41 mile per hour wind gust at 5:30 a.m.
At the height of the outages, nearly 15,000 Consumers Energy customers lost power which included nearly 3,800 in Branch County and over 3,300 in Hillsdale County.
The City of Coldwater reported the extensive storm damage caused power outages in many parts of town but the downtown area had power back at late morning. At one point, nearly 1,800 Consumers Energy customers in Coldwater lost power.
Crews from the City of Marshall helped Coldwater Board of Public Utilities crews get the power back on.
For most of the outages in the Branch County area, Consumers Energy at midday gave an estimated restoration time of 2:00 p.m. Friday.
The storms moved into Branch County at about 5:15 a.m. The Branch County Memorial Airport recorded a 41 mile per hour wind gust at 5:30 a.m.
Bronson Police reported trees and power lines were knocked down in the city and that the Department of Public Works had to diligently to get the streets opened back up.
Quincy firefighters answered twelve calls for service over a five hour period. Village residents were also told to stay away from the park and playground until after the storm damage is cleaned up.
The brunt of the storm was south of U.S. 12. While the ferocious storm went through Bronson, Coldwater and Quincy; Union City escaped relatively unscathed.
