The storm which moved across a large portion of the middle and eastern U.S. yesterday and last night cause 94 tornados as we all knw, and killed a number of people, destroyed homes and entires communities. But it also lashed out at those of us in Northern Michigan as well. Burying a large area in anywhere from 11 t oas much as 21 inches of very wet heavy snow. It appears that the area along the Northwestern side of the state, three counties in particular, bore the brunt of it. They are reporting from 17-21 inches of snow and so have many roads blocked, that three of them have declared State of Emergencies and no vehicles other than emergency crews should be out on the roads.There are in excess of 100,000 people without power in the state, most of them in Northern Michcigan. One county to my southwest is reporting 95% of the county without powers. There are other scattered outages as well. Shelters have been set up in some areas for those who wish to use them. Power probably won't be restored before tomorrow and possibly as long as Tuesday. Crews are being sent from the downstate areas to help restore power. The trees are so loaded with snow, that they are breaking down, hence taking the power lines with them. There are about 1,600 without power in this county also.
The official total for here was 13". Very hard to clear it out even with blowers and I gave up trying to even clear my deck off. Just did enough so the girls can get out and move around. They also did not want to go out this morning as there was no place for them to go. Tessa finally waded out and pee'd on the deck a couple feet from the door. I did finally throw some heavier stuff on over my jammies and took my little blower and cleared them an area in the yard and on the deck as I mentioned. So they were happy. No fun, when you gotta go and no place to do it
As it stands right now, we are all cleared out and even our road is plowed. They are still suggesting that we don't drive around, but that's an individual choice. I haven't and am not going anywhere. Might or might not go into church tomorrow morning. Will see when I get up. We are expecting another 1-3 inches of lake effect snow tonight. Hope it'[s just an inch so I don't have to haul out the blower again. We've picked up at least 2 feet of snow since Wednesday. Needless to say, it's piled everywhere.
While I am on the subject of the storm, I hope that our forum sisters in the affected states check in, so we know that they and their families are okay.
