Straight line winds through Saginaw yesterday pretty much trashed the
southeast quadrant of the city, including the airport... The catwalk
gratings on top of the above ground fuel tanks at the airport were
lifted out of their frames and scattered about... These are not flat
plate gratings, but vertical bar type with the scalloped top edges tha
tthe wind has to lift up by the narrow profile, not the flats...Some
items on roofs were sheared off... Overall, the airport is in good
shape, no roofs lost, etc. but there is no power, including no way to
fuel up...

I ran over to the Flying J, a gas station on the expressway 3 miles
from the airport, but they were out of power also.. Since I could not
get my doors up, it didn't make any difference... In driving to the
airport through some of the oldest neighborhoods, there are oak and
maple and ash trees, most over 3 feet in diameter at the point they
are sheared off (and they are not rotten in the center either) down in
the streets, on cars, and on roofs, power lines down, siignal lights
on the ground, etc... Two townships are without power with most homes
expect to be out for 1 -2 days and some as long as 3 days (at least it
is not zero degrees and blowing)

At my home 23 miles away I had all the hanging flower pots along the
front of the porch mauled and lost about $300 worth of flowers that
had been up less than a week... I lost some trees in our 12 acres of
woods, but that is an annual spring event so we don't bother to
inventory...

denny - currently grounded