Monday storms snap trees, power lines in Marcellus

CASS COUNTY, Mich. (WNDU) - Parts of Cass County bore the brunt of Monday night storms that snapped trees and power lines in the Marcellus area.

“Some screens are poked out. Looks like the antenna’s blown off,” described Sam Cropsey, resident of Marcellus Township.

Cropsey took Tuesday off from work to clean up the trees that are now strewn about his lawn and piled against his family’s home. While he said he’s previously dealt with storm damage, Cropsey had to help his wife to safety in an atypical way on Monday, when trees blocked her drive home.

“When I got to her, we found a safe place to park our vehicles. There was no way to drive to our house because of all the trees that were down. So we had to walk about a half-mile through a cornfield, mud up to our ankles,” Cropsey said.

Marcellus resident Christine Richardson Balog doesn’t believe her property sustained any significant damage but remarked the storm was unnerving.

“I was kind of frightened because we had a tornado in St. Joe when I lived out there when my kids were little. But it, it wasn’t as bad as what I thought it would be. But it was still was scary,” she said.

Cass County Emergency Management Agency Coordinator Manny Delarosa took note of the teamwork he witnessed in the Tuesday storm cleanup.

“I can honestly say that since first thing this morning, road commission, the local energy companies and their crews, and the population here has been working steadily, been very productive. And they’re working together well,” said Delarosa. “I’m actually very impressed at how things are going and how smooth it’s going.”

Delarosa said crews are removing fallen trees from county roads, but energy companies are handling any trees that are intermixed with power lines.

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