Millions of trees snapped in half, over 10,000 without power weeks after Michigan ice storm

It could take until autumn before all of the damage is cleaned up following a destructive ice storm in Michigan, and officials are worried the aftermath will contribute to intense wildfires in the coming years.

A major late-season ice storm caused massive tree damage in northern Michigan and southern Ontario on March 28-30, knocking out power for more than a million electric customers. Over two weeks later, nearly 10,000 are still without power, according to PowerOutage.com.

AccuWeather spoke to Lucas Merrick from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources about the tree damage in the state. The storm damaged nearly 3 million acres of forests in the northern part of the state, Merrick said.

"I've never seen an event as big or as devastating as this," Merrick told AccuWeather in an interview. "There are acres and acres of trees, basically just snapped in half."

Over 3,000 state roads were affected and more than a dozen state parks remain closed. Merrick added that some remote roads may not be cleared until early autumn due to the amount of work that needs to be done.

"The dead woody debris will have many positive impacts for Michigan forests, but these treetops and branches, they will begin to dry out and the potential for intense ground fires will increase throughout the next several years," Merrick said.

Meredith Migizi's team at Miigwech Inc., a social outreach organization for local indigenous people in northern Michigan, is still seeing life-or-death situations two weeks after the storm ended, the Detroit Free Press reported. As power outages continue, she worries her community has been left behind.

According to Merrick, the storm's overall impact on the state will be felt for 40 to 50 years.

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