Spring storm brings high winds and some moderate damage

A weather event last night resulted in power outages and tree damage in the northwest parts of Laketown Township. Our fire department crews were out most of the night on reports of wires down and trees across roadways. Areas to the south and east of us were hit worse with a possible tornado near Wayland. The bowling alley in Douglas had their roof severely damaged.

Earlier this morning, GFD was on an Allegan County Emergency Management Zoom meeting where a briefing was given. Michigan State Police agreed to fly their helicopter over the county to assist with damage assessment and was seen over Laketown Township at 10:00 am this morning. If you live in Laketown or Western Fillmore Townships and have any damage to structures, please send photos to us at davegrumney@graafschapfire.org. We will make them part of the county damage assessment report.

If you see a barricade or cones, please do NOT drive around them. Electrical lines are sometimes entangled in the trees and the lines may or may not be energized. Even lines that appear off, can have auto-reset breakers than can send power without warning. For more information on electrical safety, please click here.

The power outage map below (borrowed from the Laketown Township website) show affected areas as of this morning. For a current outage map, click here.

The Felt Mansion property on 138th had some trees down into an electrical wire. The fire department and Felt staff cleared that this morning so an event could proceed today. There was also some water intrusion in the big tent and the basement. Crews are busy cleaning up so the events this weekend can go on. Currently, they are operating under generator power.