Sleeping Bear Dunes, Glen Arbor Hit Hard By Michigan Storms
GLEN ARBOR, Mich. (WWJ/AP) - Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore and the northern Lower Peninsula communities of Glen Arbor and Traverse City have been hit hard by severe storms packing high winds.
At Sleeping Bear Dunes, the storms shut down six areas forcing campers at D.H. Day Camp to find other places to stay.
Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore posts on Facebook show some of the damage the campers and the grounds sustained. They note on a post that there are many downed trees throughout the National Lakeshore.
A tweet from Theresa Ferguson, who spent the night at the campgrounds, shows downed trees and collapsed camp site.
"We have several areas in the park, that, due to trees being down are closed," said Sleeping Bear Dunes spokeswoman Merrith Bauman. "So at the height of our vistor season we have several of our major attractions and one of our campgrounds is closed," said Bauman.
Bauman says the southern area of the park near the Platte River is open, but says it will take a few days and possibly longer in some areas to clean up the rest of the park.
"If you are safe where you are, we ask you to please stay off the roads so crews can safely work to restore access. The Sleeping Bear Heritage Trail is also blocked, and will remain blocked for some time," read the post.
In Glen Arbor, WPBN-WTOM reported fallen trees blocked access into and out of the community. The National Weather Service says damage was blamed on high winds.
In Traverse City, about 70 mph winds struck.
A free outdoor movie at a Traverse City film festival was scratched. Paul Barbas, owner of Opa! Coney and Grill, was on hand to serve moviegoers. He told the Traverse City Record-Eagle recycling bins, portable toilets and coolers were blown around.
He says: "As you turned around, almost like a domino effect, it just started getting worse.
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