Mary Way was in the living room of her Otsego home when the 100-year-old pine tree in her yard came crashing across her driveway Wednesday, March 8.
“It was like the whole house was coming down,” she said, surveying the damage from her porch.
Luckily, the only immediate damage seemed to be that the cable was now out; she still had power, and the tree had not come down on anyone, the house or any cars.
High winds toppled trees and power lines throughout the county the morning of in some cases causing fires.
Way’s tree came down sometime between 10:30 and 11 a.m.; her house is on Morrell just east of Wilmott. She said the tree breaking scared her and her two dachshunds.
“I think we each lost about 10 lives when it happened,” she said. “They’re still pretty upset.”
Police keeping watch over it as the utility was awaited said it appeared as though the tree is laying atop the power, cable and phone lines connected to a pole across the street.
A couple blocks away, crews set up barricades around the intersection of Dix Street and Brookside Drive. A guy wire helping support a utility pole snapped. A city worker on scene said the bottom of the pole appeared to be rotted, as it was swaying in the wind, threatening to break.
Before that, a power line broke and lay across 11th Street south of 110th Avenue, near Plainwell.
Initial reports said it had caused a fire in the nearby woods; firemen on scene at 9 a.m. said there had been no fire.
Contact Ryan Lewis at rmlewis@allegannews.com or (269) 673-5534.
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