Remembering the northern Michigan ice storm, one-year later

MiCCA Director Teresa Homsi shared the following testimony on Feb. 26, 2026 in Gaylord, Michigan as part of a series of "People's Hearing" events on extreme weather, in partnership with the Climate Action Campaign.

Like many others living in northern Michigan last year, I couldn’t sleep the first Saturday night of the storm, kept awake by the sound of branches cracking and crashing to the ground. Wrapped up in blankets, I found myself bracing for the potential impact of a tree on my roof. 

At the time, I was working as a reporter for a local NPR-affiliate radio station, so I was covering the storm while experiencing the outage. Still, I spoke with first responders and local officials, who at first were advising people to shelter-in-place. But in many homes, temperatures were dropping fast, and for the first few days, most gas stations in the 12-county region were shut down, making generator use limited.

The E-Free church, here in Gaylord, opened as an overnight shelter, and there, I spoke with people on oxygen, who were grateful for the support. I heard from folks who were trapped in their homes and whose neighbors helped them clear a way out, so they could access services.

I also spoke to the governor and multiple lawmakers about the request for federal disaster relief, along with the National Guard, line workers, and utility companies about the recovery process. 

The Michigan State Police PIO told me it was a miracle that no one was hurt or killed. 

I bring this all up because for people outside the region, it’s really hard to explain how isolating the storm felt and the uncertainty around when power would be restored. 

In my current role with the Michigan Clinicians for Climate Action - which represents around 400 health professionals - we emphasize how deadly power outages can be. 

That’s why we advocate for policies that support climate mitigation and also address the drivers of climate change, which we know is resulting in more frequent and severe floods, hurricanes, wildfires, and potentially even, winter storms.

The northern Michigan ice storm also highlights the need for more emergency planning and grid resilience within our state. That can mean more robust distribution planning and building out community solar projects, which offer a localized power source - independent of utilities.

As extreme weather becomes more common, we should also NOT be divesting from FEMA and agencies involved in climate research. 

Confirmed climate disasters in 2024 exceeded one billion dollars in damage, according to NOAA, but the current administration has decided to no longer track billion dollar weather disasters. 

Ignoring reality is not a solution. States, alone, can’t handle the full burden of these expensive disasters, and as we saw from the ice storm, with FEMA’s denial, utilities shifted the cost of recovery onto ratepayers.

I was very lucky during the storm for getting access to a generator and only losing power for six days while others were in the dark for multiple weeks. And while no one was hurt, we cannot afford to accept this storm - and others - as part of our new normal.

Note: Since this statement was published, FEMA has walked back its original denial and plans to grant utilities disaster funding. However, the amount is unclear. Federal aid for residents was still denied.