A severe thunderstorm that produced 70+ mph winds, hail and lightning wreaked havoc in the Grand Traverse region Sunday. Crews remained working late into the night to clear roads of downed power lines and uprooted trees as emergency responders cautioned residents to remain indoors unless absolutely necessary. Consumers Energy, Traverse City Light & Power and Cherryland Electric Cooperative collectively reported up to 30,000 residents losing power in the storm's wake. Grand Traverse, Leelanau and Kalkaska 911 lines also went down, with Petoskey's CCE Central Dispatch stepping in to assist with rerouted calls until service could be restored.

Leelanau County was particularly hard hit by the storm, with roads leading in and out of Glen Arbor rendered completely impassable. Following reports that a tornado had touched down in Glen Arbor, the U.S. National Weather Service in Gaylord issued a statement that while "we would not rule out the possibility that one or more brief tornadoes have contributed to this damage...the photographic evidence we have seen to this point supports intense straight wind lines, and not tornadoes, as the cause. We will likely send a storm survey team out that way on Monday to make a better determination." 

Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore announced that the DH Day Campground would be closed today (Monday), and also stated the Sleeping Bear Heritage Trail and Historic Village of Glen Haven would be closed "until further notice." Power companies issued statements that outages were likely to continue through Monday and beyond (view an outage map for Consumers Energy here, Cherryland Electric Cooperative here and Traverse City Light & Power here).

On The Ticker's Facebook page, readers from across the region posted storm photos and shared damage updates from their neighborhoods. View a gallery of images of the storm and its aftermath here.

Photo credit: Donna Mortier