High winds blew portions of school roofs away and knocked down trees and power lines in parts of Michigan on Wednesday.
LANSING -- More than 320,000 utility customers were reported to be without power by early afternoon, including at least 140,000 who use Consumers Energy and 180,000 who use DTE Energy.
Additional Consumers Energy outages were expected Wednesday and some in the worst-hit areas might not have their power restored until Sunday.
"We have crews working around the clock in difficult weather conditions," said Guy Packard, vice president of energy operations for Consumers Energy. "With the rough weather continuing, we expect this to be a multi-day restoration effort."
A charter plane carrying players from the University of Michigan basketball team, band members, cheer leaders and coaching staff family skidded off the runway due to high winds at Willow Run Airport. There were no injuries.
Officials in Lansing warned that high winds are the cause for a potential wall collapse at St. Paul's Episcopal Church on Ottawa Street near the Capitol. Church staff noticed structural damage to the building this morning.
Service also was knocked out to about 9,000 homes and businesses in the Paw Paw area in southwestern Michigan, according to Indiana Michigan Power.
Another 3,300 homes and businesses in the Fort Wayne, Indiana, area also are without power, the utility said.
In some parts of Michigan, wind gusts had already exceeded 60 mph.