Dozens of trees uprooted by storm

DICKINSON COUNTY — Some hard storms have hit the Dickinson County area lately, including the storms that swept through the area Tuesday night.

Dozens upon dozens of trees were uprooted, and violently torn apart from a severe thunderstorm that began around two o’clock Wednesday morning. Mother nature’s wrath was relentless, causing power outages and damage across the Dickinson County area including a park, several homes and more.

“Even the State Police at the Iron Mountain Post wasn’t immune to tree damage,” said Iron Mountain Post Michigan State Police F/Lt. Christine Grabowski, “as you can see behind me, we had a few trees go down and we are working on cleaning that up.”

The worst damage appeared to be at the Lake Antoine Park and Campgrounds, where a majority of the trees were ripped down from powerful winds. Fortunately this is a time of the year with a very small number of campers. The campground is temporarily closed until the lengthy clean–up process is complete, but many people surrounded the fences to take a look at the wreckage.

“So far I’ve seen one tree over a fence,” said Passerby Sam Lamirand, “and the fence was broken because the tree was like fifty feet long.”

“The winds were just horrific and it sounded just like a tornado,” said storm witness Elizabeth Wiegert, “the rains were hitting the windows so hard I thought it was hail, but it was just high winds.”

According to the National Weather Service, this was not a tornado, but rather the result of heavy straight line winds. First responders headed to the campground at around four a.m. Wednesday morning, checking on campers.

The winds remain strong, but fortunately no injuries have been reported at this time.