By Ben Warren, Max Reinhart, MediaNews Group
Freezing rain and ice created hazardous conditions Friday in southeast Michigan, causing flight cancellations and vehicle accidents across the region.
The National Weather Service had issued a winter weather advisory for Metro Detroit north through the M-59 and Interstate 69 corridors, including St. Clair, Washtenaw, Genesee, Saginaw, Tuscola and Sanilac counties.
According to the weather service’s storm report map, Saginaw recorded the most freezing rain on Friday, with just over a quarter-inch. Detroit got about 0.14 inches.
The agency received reports of downed tree branches in areas including Bay City and Port Huron.
The ice accumulation caused several accidents, including multiple crashes on I-75 near Saginaw. The Michigan Department of Transportation’s Bay Region, which covers the Mt. Pleasant, Saginaw, Flint and the Thumb areas of the state, reported at least six crashes that temporarily closed lanes along the freeway on Friday.
Among them were collisions on the Zilwaukee Bridge, which was closed in both directions, according to MDOT. WNEM Saginaw reported that multiple semi-trucks jackknifed on the Saginaw River span due to slippery conditions.
By 11:30 a.m., both directions of the bridge had reopened to traffic, MDOT reported.
On Facebook, Saginaw County 911 Central Dispatch wrote that I-75 was “completely shut down” in both directions due to the crashes. The agency warned drivers to avoid the area if possible and drive carefully.
Traffic on the Mackinac Bridge slowed to 20 miles per hour due to ice on the bridge deck, according to the Mackinac Bridge Authority website.
As the rain arrived early Friday, more than 40 flights scheduled to depart from Detroit Metro Airport in Romulus have been cancelled, according to its flight status website. The cancellations may impact travelers returning home from the Christmas holiday.
“Currently, we’re not experiencing icy conditions at Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport. Flight delays or cancellations are determined by the airlines,” Cortez Strickland, a DTW spokesperson, wrote in an email.
“In anticipation of icy conditions, our Airfield Operations and Maintenance teams have pre-treated the runways and taxiways. Crews will continue to monitor the situation.”
Ice continued to fall in some areas into the early afternoon hours, according to NWS data.
“Untreated surfaces will be coated with ice, and we should see more freezing rain throughout the day,” said Kevin Kacan, a meteorologist with the NWS Detroit office.
“The big thing is travel. Any roadway not treated with salt can be slick and dangerous to drive on.”
Temperatures in southeastern Michigan just cracked the freezing point Friday afternoon. In Detroit, which tends to be the warmest point in the region, highs peaked at 34 degrees Fahrenheit around 4 p.m.
On Saturday, temperatures will continue to hover around freezing, up to 35. But it will warm up more on Sunday, with a high of 49, according to the NWS.
Both branches of the West Bloomfield Township library were closed on Friday due to the rain, according to an email from the library system.
Power outages were reported across the area after ice accumulated on tree limbs and other surfaces.
The Consumers Energy power outage map showed that more than 4,000 customers lost power Friday morning along the I-75 corridor near Prescott in Ogemaw County. The map reported the cause of the outage as “storm damage.” By Friday evening, more than 25,000 Consumers customers were still without power, mainly in the central part of the Lower Peninsula. As of Saturday mid-morning, Consumers showed 14,667 customers without power from 303 outages, mostly in central Michigan.
Early Friday afternoon, nearly 30,000 DTE Energy customers were without power across southeast Michigan. By the evening hours, that number was down to about 13,000 with Lake Orion and other parts of northeast Oakland County among the hardest hit in the region.
bwarren@detroitnews.com
mreinhart@detroitnews.com
