Wind gusts of 50 miles per hour blew through the Oxford area Friday night and into Saturday, toppling trees, downing electrical lines and causing power outages.
On Saturday morning, DTE Energy’s on-line outage map showed a total of 1,448 customers without power in Oxford’s 48371 and 48370 zip codes. The map showed 500 customers without electricity in Leonard’s 48367 zip code.
The Oxford Fire Department handled six calls related to downed power lines and arcing wires between 8 p.m. Feb. 19 and 4 p.m. Feb. 20.
The biggest incident involved an uprooted evergreen tree that fell onto some nearby power lines and ‘ripped them down? in the Squaw Lake Pines subdivision off Sanders Rd., just north of W. Drahner Rd., according to Fire Chief Pete Scholz.
‘The top of the tree was on fire,? he said.
Live power lines fell across Malena Lane, the only street that connects the subdivision to Sanders Rd.
‘That whole subdivision was completely blocked,? Scholz said. ‘Nobody could get in or out because there were wires laying all across the road.?
Firefighters remained on scene until DTE workers arrived to switch off the power and clear the wires from the roadway.
Overall, Scholz said the wind damage wasn’t nearly bad as he had anticipated.
‘I was really worried,? he said. ‘Those were some of the strongest winds we’ve had in a long time. Things were shaking all over the place.?
Like Oxford, Addison Township experienced some downed trees and power lines, but again, nothing major.
‘It really wasn’t that big of a deal,? said Fire Chief Jerry Morawski. ‘There were just some wires down, no homes damaged. Our guys were able to handle it and everybody was safe.?