A tree and power line that fell on East OP Avenue, just east of Battle Creek Farm Bureau in Climax, blocked traffic for a period of time April 27.
By Bruce Rolfe
A Village of Climax family not only feels thankful no one was injured when a large tree came crashing into the family’s house on North Main Street April 27 after powerful winds came through the area late in the afternoon, but grateful as well when a tree removal company that was coming through the area from a job in Battle Creek observed the tree had fallen onto the house and offered to remove the tree.
Raeanne Barrett, who said there were six people in the house when the high winds started, said she observed a tree had fallen near a house next door. She said her husband immediately moved the family’s vehicles that were under the tree next to their home.
Moments later the large tree fell onto the family’s roof.
“It was just a big crash,” said Barrett.
“I came out to look, because I knew. I look at them (the trees near the family’s driveway) every storm knowing they’re going to come crashing down,” said Barrett.
Barrett said the portion of the roof the tree struck was above her sons’ bedroom, however, “every storm I have them come down to the main floor because that’s one of my biggest fears.”
A short time later Roman’s Reliable Tree Service was returning to the area from a job in Battle Creek and observed the tree had fallen onto the house.
A Village of Climax family not only feels thankful no one was injured when a large tree came crashing into the family’s house on North Main Street April 27 after powerful winds came through the area late in the afternoon, but grateful as well when a tree removal company that was coming through the area from a job in Battle Creek observed the tree had fallen onto the house and offered to remove the tree.
Raeanne Barrett, who said there were six people in the house when the high winds started, said she observed a tree had fallen near a house next door. She said her husband immediately moved the family’s vehicles that were under the tree next to their home.
Moments later the large tree fell onto the family’s roof.
“It was just a big crash,” said Barrett.
“I came out to look, because I knew. I look at them (the trees near the family’s driveway) every storm knowing they’re going to come crashing down,” said Barrett.
Barrett said the portion of the roof the tree struck was above her sons’ bedroom, however, “every storm I have them come down to the main floor because that’s one of my biggest fears.”
A short time later Roman’s Reliable Tree Service was returning to the area from a job in Battle Creek and observed the tree had fallen onto the house.
An employee approached the homeowner to see if they would like help, and the company went to work, first trimming branches before using equipment with a boom and claws that lifted the tree off the house.
Seeing the tree that fell onto a neighbor’s house brought back bad memories for Pastor Noah Miller, who lives across the street from the Barrett home but lived two parcels to the south last March when a tree fell onto the home his family was living in after a powerful thunderstorm ripped through the area.
“It was almost 13 months ago exactly, it happened at our house. It was so close to where it happened a year ago. We went over there and said, we understand what you’re going through,” said Miller.
The Barrett family likely faced a longer wait before they could have gotten help removing the tree from the house had the tree removal company not gone by and offered to help.
“That is a miracle. He was just going by at the right moment. You couldn’t have planned that any better. It was God,” said Miller, the pastor at Peace Community Church across the street from the Barretts.
The powerful winds that came through the area in the late afternoon April 27 left many without power, brought wide-spread property damage, downed wires and blocked multiple roads from fallen trees.
According to Consumers Energy, the entire Village of Climax and many customers in Charleston Township were left without power.
According to Consumers Energy, state-wide there were 904 outages affecting 67,846 customers late April 27. That number had been reduced to 895 outages and 48,374 affected early April 28.
A tree that had fallen across Maple Street and brought a power line down just east of the Village Hall, blocked traffic. Because there was a downed power line, the Village of Climax DPW was still waiting as of the morning of April 28 to get the go ahead from Consumers Energy to begin removing the tree.
Canadian National was alerted by the Kalamazoo County Dispatch Center a large tree that fell just east of the North Main Street railroad crossing in the Village of Climax, was blocking both eastbound and westbound tracks. The tree was removed a short time later.
Climax Township Fire Chief Scott Smith said his department responded to numerous calls for downed power lines and trees blocking roads.
There were also trees that had fallen in the City of Galesburg and town of Scotts. Numerous trees in the area were uprooted.
The National Weather Service issued a severe thunderstorm warning for Kalamazoo County lasting through the afternoon and early evening April 27 with damaging wind gusts up to 70 mph causing widespread power outages and tree damage.
The high winds are identified by the National Weather Service as a “wake low” event. The National Weather Service states a “wake low” produces high pressure, high-wind conditions behind a line of showers.
––––––––––––––––––––
Subscribe to the Legal News!
https://legalnews.com/Home/Subscription
Full access to public notices, articles, columns, archives, statistics, calendar and more
Day Pass Only $4.95!
One-County $80/year
Three-County & Full Pass also available
