LANSING — Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and local officials spoke with 9&10 News Wednesday about ongoing ice storm recovery efforts in Northern Michigan.
Whitmer spoke from the State Emergency Operations Center in Lansing, where Michigan State Police and other agencies are working to coordinate help for people in the affected area.
“It’s kind of an all hands on deck moment, from the locals to the state, with MDOT and DNR working to clear roads as well,” she said. “So we’re marshaling all the manpower and resources that we have.”
Whitmer said there were around 125 National Guard members assisting in Northern Michigan Wednesday, with another 350 expected to join in the next day.
“The common refrain that I heard was, ‘I’ve never — I’ve lived here my whole life. I’ve never seen anything like this.’ It’s a unique challenge and an increasingly difficult climate,” Whitmer said. “If you can hunker down and you’re in a safe place and you’ve got the important things that you need, please do so, at least through this next weather event.”
She says the first priority of responders is to help restore power.
As of Wednesday afternoon, Consumers Energy reported that around 80% of customers have had their power restored since the weekend, but nearly 70,000 still remained without power.
Kim Awrey, city manager of Gaylord, says that this is the most severe natural disaster she’s seen in recent years.
“We had the tornado in 2022, and honestly, this is a hundred times worse than what we saw during the tornado,” she said. “It came through and just — one little area. This is county-wide, there’s a lot of destruction to the trees and things. There’s going to be a big cleanup effort that’s going to be necessary once we get things restored.”
Ralph Ochs, Village President of Vanderbilt, says that his community is hoping to have power restored by the end of the week.
“I have never seen anything equivalent to this storm in my lifetime, and I’m a youngster at 88 years old,” he said.
Whitmer says that she’ll be speaking with President Trump this week about conditions in Northern Michigan and to request federal assistance for response efforts.
“I know that the resources that we’ve deployed, we’re going to have to find the money for that. It can’t wait to do that in an emergency. We’ve got to take action, and that’s what we’re doing,” she said. “But ultimately, whether it is through FEMA or state government, we’re going to have to figure out how to pay the bill.”
Whitmer’s full interview with 9&10 News can be found here.