COLDWATER, MI (WTVB) – Branch County Emergency Management Coordinator Tim Minor says there were two minor injuries that took place during Wednesday afternoon’s severe weather.
He told the Branch County Board of Commissioners during a special meeting on Thursday that there were no known tornados adding that it looked like a straight line wind event.
The largest concentration of damage was in Bronson where there were multiple large trees blocking U.S. 12.
He said the ground was soft enough that the trees just toppled over in the 70 mile per hour winds. There was also sporadic shingle damage to homes in Bronson and several others were damged by trees that fell over.
Greg Moore of Consumers Energy said Branch and Calhoun Counties were the hardest hit areas on Wedneday and that as of Thursday afternoon, 89 percent of their customers in Bronson were without power. He called the damage in Bronson devastating.
He said nine crews have been assigned in Branch County with more crews coming in from out of state and that it was a significant storm for the utility.
Moore said if the out of town crews can get in by Friday morning, they can get the City of Bronson back on by late afternoon or early evening. If that doesn’t happen, Moore said it maybe Sunday before power is restored.
A total of 173 Consumers Energy crews along with 94 contractor crews are working on restoring power around the state.
