Rain turns to ice, cuts power in Great Lakes region while Tennessee braces for wild weather

Freezing rain brought down trees and power lines in Michigan and Wisconsin, cutting electricity for thousands of people Sunday in the upper Great Lakes region, while forecasters said severe weather was on its way to Tennessee.

Winds topping 70 mph (112 kph) were possible for the middle of Tennessee, with a chance of tornadoes as well as hail as large as 2 inches (5 centimeters) Sunday night, the National Weather Service said.

“Have your safe place cleaned out just in case,” forecasters said on X.

More than 200,000 power outages were reported in Michigan and Wisconsin. Churches, schools and fire halls were turned into warming centers as utilities worked to restore electricity, a job that will likely stretch into Monday in small communities and rural pockets.

The Weather Service office in Gaylord, Michigan, was in the middle of it, saying on X: “Accumulations range here from a half inch to nearly a whole inch of ice!”

Despite the calendar showing spring, “it’s still winter,” said Ryan Brege, managing director of the Alpena County, Michigan, Road Commission.

A different county agency that coordinates emergency response said the “ice storm continues to cause chaos,” with phone service interrupted and roads clogged with fallen trees, 250 miles (402 kilometers) north of Detroit.

Authorities in South Carolina reported progress Sunday in controlling wildfires in the Blue Ridge mountains. The Table Rock and Persimmon Ridge fires have burned about 17 square miles (44 square kilometers). Mandatory evacuations were ordered Saturday for some residents of Greenville County.

“Thank you for the prayers. They’re being heard. There’s rain in the air,” said Derrick Moore, operations chief for the firefighting Southern Area Blue Team.