News Photo by Kayla Wikaryasz A tree blocks a road in Alpena earlier this afternoon after a severe thunderstorm rolled through the area. The storm caused some minor power outages and fallen trees.

ALPENA — A severe thunderstorm that had wind gusts up to 60 miles an hour, heavy rain, and small hail that hit Alpena early Tuesday afternoon caused thousands of Alpena Power Co. customers to lose power, many trees to fall, and spawned numerous grass fires from downed power lines.

The National Weather Service issued a severe thunderstorm warning for Alpena County just before noon, and within minutes, the storm began to batter the area. The weather warning instructed people to shelter in place until the storm passed.

The storm lasted less than 10 minutes, but caused power outages around Alpena County. Some of the power outages were from trees falling on power lines, and other trees blocked some roads in the Alpena area. The fires sparked from live wires lying on the ground, which was still abnormally dry, despite the heavy rain from the thunderstorm.

Many of the people who lost power live on or near the U.S.-23 South corridor in Alpena Township, and there were also scattered outages in Alpena. It is unknown if there was extensive damage from the thunderstorm.

Tuesday’s severe weather comes on the heels of a historic ice storm that began on March 28 and caused tens of thousands of people to live without electricity for days.

Many trees from the ice storm were weakened or damaged by the ice storm, which likely made them vulnerable to the high winds associated with Tuesday’s thunderstorm.

The Alpena area is still recovering from the ice storm, and cleanup from it is still ongoing in all of Northeast Michigan.

Steve Schulwitz can be reached at 989-358-5689 or sschulwitz@TheAlpenaNews.com. Follow him on X @ss_alpenanews.com.