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Thousands Still Without Power Across North

A tree is split in half under the weight of ice and snow in Middleville, Mich. Nearly 29,000 people are still without power in Michigan — but that's down from 200,000 just days ago.
Andrew Kuhn
/
MLIVE.COM /Landov
A tree is split in half under the weight of ice and snow in Middleville, Mich. Nearly 29,000 people are still without power in Michigan — but that's down from 200,000 just days ago.

Thousands of homes across Michigan and New England are still without power after last week's ice storms, and New England is bracing for more snow and more possible power outages.

Nearly 29,000 people are still without power in Michigan.

Ron Likes, a spokesman for the Michigan State Police and Emergency Services, says that's down from more than 200,000.

"We had a tree fall on our front yard. It hit a power line, and it took out the line to our house, and I was out of power for almost a week," he says.

Michigan Radio's Lindsey Smith filed this reports for our Newscast Unit:

"Sara Scott, her husband and their 3-year-old son have been staying at her in-laws since Monday. She says her husband is paranoid that the pipes are going to freeze or that someone's going to break into their home in Lansing. Plus, she says she's two months pregnant.

" 'It's such a stressful time of year already and then to not even be able to go home and recuperate it's tough. I don't want to be a whiner but we've all just been complete wrecks.'

"Scott only gets a busy signal when she calls the public utility that serves their home. But officials say they expect most areas will have power by the end of this weekend."

National Weather Service forecaster Bob Orevac says much of New England can expect snow by Sunday night. Some areas could get more than 6 inches.

Thousands are without power in Maine, and emergency officials in the state say that it may take until next week to restore power to everyone.

Tens of thousands of people are also without power in eastern Canada after last week's crippling ice storm. High winds in Ontario, combined with melting ice, is bringing down more branches and causing more power outages.

Officials in Toronto, one of the hardest-hit cities, say about 40 percent of the city's power lines came down — enough to cross Canada twice.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Krishnadev Calamur is NPR's deputy Washington editor. In this role, he helps oversee planning of the Washington desk's news coverage. He also edits NPR's Supreme Court coverage. Previously, Calamur was an editor and staff writer at The Atlantic. This is his second stint at NPR, having previously worked on NPR's website from 2008-15. Calamur received an M.A. in journalism from the University of Missouri.