By Katie Matvias
Lansing State Journal

BROOKFIELD TWP. - Wearing two winter coats, Juanita Thornton stood in her family's store Thursday eating the ice cream that would otherwise melt in her freezer.

No power: A broken utility pole rests in the middle of Jolly Road between Pennsylvania Avenue and Aurelius Road on Thursday morning. Police likely will block off the road until this afternoon because of damage from storms that ripped through the area Wednesday night.

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For assistance Anyone who needs help from the Red Cross should call 484-7461. Road closed Jolly Road between Aurelius Road and Pennsylvania Avenue likely will remain closed until late afternoon today because of downed wires and poles. Police are asking drivers to avoid the area.Weather forecast Today: Mostly cloudy with rain or snow showers. High in the 40s. Low of 30. Saturday: Partly cloudy with flurries. High in the low-to-mid 40s. Low in the upper 20s.

Downed trees: City of Lansing Forestry Department employees Tony Benevidez (left) and Mike Hayes clear away and cut up fallen trees blocking Devonshire Street in Lansing on Thursday morning after Wednesday night's storm brought down trees on the street.

Outside, generators hummed as Narrow Lake residents attempted to scoop up fallen limbs, trash and debris left from Wednesday's storm.

No one in the area will have electrical power for several days and nearly every house on the lake was damaged.

Damage in Eaton County is estimated to be at least $1 million and about 3,200 Eaton Rapids students didn't have school because of power loss. In Clinton County, a Maple Rapids man was killed when a tree fell on his truck.

Thornton spent the day behind the counter of her grocery store selling the basics: food, cigarettes and mostly beer.

Eaton County sheriff's Sgt. Steve Jackson, also the county's emergency manager, said the damage is the worst he's seen in his nearly 23 years with the department.

"It will take months to clean this up because a lot of the landowners and insurance agencies are going to have to do it themselves,'' Jackson said.

Weather officials haven't determined if it was a tornado that tore into mid-Michigan on Wednesday, said Randy Graham, meteorologist for the National Weather service in Grand Rapids.

Graham said Michigan was hit with a line of storms that moved from the southwest to the northeast toward the thumb section of the state.

The storm was caused by a cold front that clashed with warm, moist weather, he said.

It started near Marshall, he said, then traveled to Eaton Rapids and Dimondale, then headed to south Lansing-East Lansing before dwindling.

Storm experts are assessing the damage. Graham said they can tell whether it was a tornado by what direction things fell and if there was a change in the path of the damage.

"They are taking a look at it to see if it's a straight-line wind - that can be just as damaging as a tornado,'' he said.

But Mike Watson is sure he saw a twister near his mobile home on Baseline Highway in rural Eaton County.

"When me and my girlfriend got home, I backed up and hit the horn,'' said Watson, whose home was not damaged. "If I would have had a camera. ... It was absolutely gorgeous. I watched it as it crossed the area.''

The Eaton County Mounted Posse volunteers helped secure the area around Narrow Lake. Jackson said they are trying to prevent looting.

"First you have people who want to help,'' he said. "Then you have the curious and then, unfortunately, you have the people who want to make money off other people.''

Mid-Michigan Red Cross volunteers zigzagged through Eaton County on Thursday to offer assistance and hotel vouchers to displaced families.

"They found a lot of trees down and some homes that were badly damaged, and they needed Red Cross assistance," said Ray Thibeault, disasters services coordinator.

"In Eaton Rapids, they came to one house where the entire house had been moved off the foundation.''

Schools in Eaton Rapids were closed and city officials worked in the dark for much of the day, said Kristy Reinecke, Eaton Rapids' city clerk and treasurer.

The power was turned back on at 2:15 p.m., she said.

Kevin Keane, spokesman for Consumers Energy, said Wednesday's storms and high winds affected about 7,000 customers in Greater Lansing.

Keane said most of the outages were in Grand Ledge and Eaton Rapids with scattered damage throughout Ingham, Clinton and Eaton counties.

"Isolated customers and those areas hardest hit may not have power until 6 p.m.'' today, he said.

John Strickler, spokesman for Board Water and Light, agreed. Most BW&L customers had their power switched on Thursday but about 50 to 100 homes might have a longer wait.

"We are doing two or three houses at a time,'' he said.

More than 10,000 customers initially lost power because of the storm, he said.

The trouble spots in East Lansing included Harrison Road and Grand River Avenue; Hagadorn Road between Grand River Avenue and Haslett Road; and some parts of Burcham Drive.

In Lansing, power was still out in the Moores River Drive area, on Cedar Street near Miller Road and Forest and Aurelius roads - where the storm hit hardest.

Strickler said crews will continue to work through Saturday replacing the 95-foot tall transmission poles.

South Lansing was hit hard, said Dominic Fucciolo, forestry supervisor for Lansing.

He said most of the damage occurred near Cedar Street and Miller Road going north east toward Collins Road and Forest Road.

Fucciolo said two crews were out working Wednesday night for about six hours clearing the right of ways and streets. Thursday, he had a full force - 15 employees - working for 11 hours.

"We probably have lost 30 to 50 city-owned ... trees,'' he said. "It's difficult to say if there will be more because of the continued high winds.''

Trees will eventually be replaced with young trees about 2 inches wide.

It will take the city to about 10 days to finish cleaning up public areas. The city will not clean up debris on private property.

Fucciolo said there are no estimates yet for total cost of cleanup and replacement.

Allen Robinson stayed home from work Thursday to clean up the 80-foot pine tree that once stood in the front yard of his south Lansing home.

"The wind was blowing so hard it was constantly pounding on the house,'' he said.

The Robinsons went to the basement after warning alarms sounded.

When Robinson came back up stairs, he noticed the top half of his tree was missing.

Branches fell on the house causing roof and gutter damage but the bulk of the tree missed his home, he said.

"A branch went through the baby's room and punctured the roof,'' he said.

In other storm news: