Thursday-Night Fall Storm

A good–sized fall storm is blowing through the central u–p.

It’s a dangerous storm, packing high winds and occasionally heavy rain.

More than 60 trees have been downed in Marquette County alone, and one of those, in Sands Township, hit a power line and caught fire.

Electricity has been flickering off and on.

UPPCO says nearly 5,000 people in and around Ishpeming are without power.

So are about 2,200 people in Escanaba, nearly 2,000 in and around Houghton and smaller numbers of people in many other communities.

Even the Negaunee State Police Post had to switch to back–up power this evening.

There was also a structure fire at the Tilden Mine just outside of Ishpeming tonight.

The fire was inside Conveyor #1.

Ishpeming Township fire crews called for mutual aid and tanker trucks.

Marquette County Central Dispatch has been inundated with calls about downed trees and power outages.

The City of Marquette Department of Public Works also says three crews are out in the city tonight, cleaning up downed trees and other debris.

City officials say that if you see a downed power line, you should assume it’s a live wire and stay away from it.

Two sections of road within the city are also closed for now during the cleanup effort: Lincoln Avenue to Birch Street and Lee Street to Alger.

Stay with us on ABC 10 News Now on Friday for more about the ongoing cleanup efforts.