Top: Talk about something “going bump in the night”; a crew from McMillan’s Tree Service made short work of this large Norway pine that crashed onto the roof of my house at about 11:15 p.m. on Wednesday, October 3. The ruckus caused the dog to worry. As for the cats, they bravely yawned and went right back to sleep. Above left: A dock at the Coast Guard station was tipped over on its side and twisted into several zigzag directions. Above right: A trampoline was sent flying across a field before landing on the other side of the dirt road, more than 100 yards from where it once sat. Staff photos/Brian Larsen
High winds throughout the Northland toppled trees, power lines and more during the evening of Wednesday, October 3.
The winds hit Cook County about 11 p.m. with trees falling by the score, many across county roads and city streets. An estimated 2,000 Arrowhead Electric Cooperative customers lost power as crews worked throughout the night to restore electricity in the affected area from Colvill to Grand Portage.
Grand Marais Public Utility linemen were out working as well, repairing multiple outages from trees downed on power lines.
Through the weekend the sounds of chainsaws filled the air as hundreds of trees had to be cleared from roads, roofs, power lines, and yards.
Wind and waves from Lake Superior damaged docks, decking and shredded the sail of at least one sailboat.
Falling trees damaged a number of houses, garages, out buildings and vehicles in the county. The highest wind gust in the Northland recorded by the National Weather Service was 56 miles per hour in the Grand Marais harbor.
Just as much of the mess was getting cleaned up, wet, heavy snow fell across much of the county on Thursday and roads that had been cleared were once again littered with fallen trees.
Arrowhead Cooperative’s linemen had power restored to most homes by Saturday morning, but more work was needed to be done.
In a Friday press release, Arrowhead Cooperative’s Member Service’s Director Yusef Orest said, “Arrowhead crews have worked tirelessly to safely restore power across Cook County after almost 2,000 Arrowhead members lost power starting on Wednesday, October 3, 2018. Crews are continuing to respond to singular outages and power restoration is likely to be completed in the evening hours on October 5, 2018.
“Arrowhead crews still have a large number of broadband dispatches to respond to. As crews finish tree removal and repair to the fiber system they will respond to broadband dispatches accordingly.
“Many True North subscribers will remain without service into the week of October 8. Please continue to report a broadband outage or trouble accessing the Internet. Arrowhead and True North will record your information and enter you into the dispatch queue. Please contact: 218-663-9030 or 877- 602-7769.
And as much work as the Arrowhead linemen had done to restore power to their Cook County customers, a blustery hat-blowing-off your-head kind of day on Wednesday, Oct. 10 coincided with another power outage between Hovland and Grand Portage that sent the crews back to work.
There was also an emergency road closure due to water cascading over the North Road (County Rd 69) on the 10th.
If you are an Arrowhead Electric Cooperative customer and need after hours support or have a technical questions, or need to report an outage regarding broadband please contact: 218-663-9030 or 877-602-7769
You can also send an email to: truenorthsupport@ctctelcom.net.
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