COLDWATER, MI (WTVB) – The weather turned downright mean and nasty early Thursday morning. A line of severe thunderstorms that packed lightning, strong winds and heavy rain rushed through Branch and Hillsdale Counties. Thousands of Consumer’s Energy customers lost their power, which forced many school districts to cancel classes for the day.
Numerous trees and power lines were knocked down by the storm.
Nearly 15,000 Consumers customers system wide lost power which included nearly 3,000 in Branch County and over 3,300 in Hillsdale County.
The City of Coldwater says due to the extensive storm damage, power outages are affecting many parts of town.
Coldwater Board of Public Utilities crews are working to restore power. They are getting assistance City of Marshall crews.
Affected customers should expect an extended outage as crews work to restore lost power. The current estimated time of restoration is unknown.
After originally being delayed two hours, both the Coldwater and Quincy school districts, as well as St. Charles Borromeo School, Pansophia Academy, and the Branch Intermediate School District cancelled classes for the day. Both Max Larsen Elementary and Lakeland Elementary were still without power mid-morning, as was St. Charles.. A large limb was across the driveway at Quincy High School.
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..
