The current coronavirus crisis got The Ticker thinking: Northern Michigan doesn’t have major earthquakes or hurricanes. So what other natural disasters has the region experienced? Turns out, a few doozies over the years.
 
“In Michigan we’re pretty safe,” notes Mike Boguth, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Gaylord. “We average less than two tornadoes a year. The biggest was an F4 April 3 of 1956. Last year we had zero. Our earthquakes are minor. It’s a pretty safe environment.”
 
The blizzard of 1978, which took place Jan. 25-27, was felt throughout the Midwest. MichiganWeatherCenter.org actually says the storm was the worst blizzard in U.S. history. Governor William Milliken declared a state of emergency and called out the Michigan National Guard to aid stranded motorists and road crews. The Michigan State Police pronounced Traverse City “unofficially closed” and urged area residents to stay home. (TC photographer John Russell's image of The Allegheny during the blizzard, pictured above, was featured in TIME magazine).
 
The snowstorm that hit 34 years later, on March 2, 2012, knocked out power throughout the region. Roads were closed as the plows were pulled off the roads. As much as 30 inches of heavy, wet snow fell in parts of Grand Traverse, Leelanau and Benzie counties, taking down power lines and leaving many of the rural parts of the area dark for days.
 
Leelanau, Benzie and Grand Traverse were under a state of emergency. Both electricity and phone service were down, as was cell service. Some in western Leelanau County found that driving to the beach in Empire provided cell service from Wisconsin.
 
Most recently, on Aug. 2, 2015, a warm front from southern Michigan heading north met a low pressure system, resulting in a huge wind event. The series of thunderstorms ultimately produced straight-line winds reaching speeds of 100 miles per hour. The area around Glen Arbor was devastated, with thousands of trees uprooted or snapped.
 
“The windstorm was probably the costliest,” says Boguth. He’s right about that: according to the National Weather Service, damage from the wind and hail caused roughly $82 million in total losses. “There were no fatalities, but lots of injuries.”
 
Jason Torrey, the director of 911 services for Grand Traverse County, says emergency dispatch services have plans when such events occur. “We make sure we’re equipped. We have contingency plans. If the 911 center experiences high call volume, we put all our staff on standby.” All non-emergency calls are routed to a ten-digit line to free up 911 service.
 
Such rapid communications didn’t exist when Michigan faced its most destructive event. On Oct. 8 1871, the same day as the Great Chicago Fire, two other fires destroyed huge swaths of this state. The Great Peshtigo Fire consumed the town of Peshtigo, Wisconsin, before spreading to the western Upper Peninsula, where it also decimated several towns.
 
The same day, a huge conflagration spread across the lower peninsula. According to records at the Michigan State University Department of Geography, the fire destroyed the cities of Holland and Manistee, and raced across the state to Port Huron. Reports from a passing steamship indicated that the Manitou Islands were also on fire.
 
No accurate record exists of the total number of deaths from the fires. The National Weather Service says around 300 died in Chicago, while at least 500 perished in the lower peninsula. The Peshtigo fire was responsible for 1,200 to 2,400 deaths, including virtually the entire town of Peshtigo, where only one building was left standing. The Chicago fire remains the most destructive metropolitan blaze in the nation's history, having caused some $200,000,000 in property damage and all but obliterating the heart of the city.