GAYLORD, Mich. — Life remained at a standstill in this northern Michigan community for the fourth day in a row on Wednesday.

Residents were relieved an overnight storm didn’t pack the wallop of the one Saturday that caused tens of thousands of people in northern Michigan to lose power. But the snow and rain Wednesday slowed recovery efforts through the community.

The downtown shopping district remained eerily quiet as store after store, service after service, remained closed. One exception was a Meijer store where a long queue of cars waited for gas.

Charlene Pearson of Gaylord had plenty of gas but was waiting in the long line to help friends. She even bought plastic gas buckets from an out-of-town Walmart beforehand.

“My friends would do the same for me,” Pearson said. “You do whatever you can. That’s why I love living here.”

The observation came on the same day Gov. Gretchen Whitmer told 9 & 10 News she has sent 125 National Guard members up north to help with clearing the roads for fuel shipments and getting oxygen for residents in assisted living centers. Another 350 Guard members are expected to join them in the next day.

Whitmer, who had declared a state of emergency in 12 counties, said she had a call planned with President Donald Trump to lay the foundation for an aid request from the federal government.

In Gaylord, work crews fought through the inclement weather to continue tending to downed or drooping power lines, which stretched from one end of the town to the other. They kept the roads clear of fallen trees and branches.

Like other northern Michigan communities, a cavalcade of repair trucks were spotted entering and leaving the town.

A utility pole in front of Richard Powell’s home in Gaylord had snapped like a twig. It left electrical wires splayed through his front yard.

Powell said he was scared to drive across the wires, which also crossed his driveway. He kept his Bull Terrier, Max, away from the lines.

“It’s scary,” Powell said about all of the ice-laden destruction in the town. “Everyone I know is going through something. Nobody was spared.”

Residents continued to stream into the Evangelical Free Church in Gaylord, which was being fueled by a generator. They said they came for a meal, a shower and especially for some warmth.

Some of their predicaments were more severe than others.

A half dozen patients from Otsego Memorial Hospital in Gaylord lost their access to oxygen when the hospital lost power. They were brought to the church, where a church member who is an emergency medical technician tended to him.

One patient, Keith Johnson of Gaylord, sitting in a wheelchair with his oxygen tank next to him, watched as a parade of residents walked past in the church.

“Scared,” Johnson said when asked how he felt about the hospital’s power loss. “I wasn’t sure what was happening.”

Other residents at the church said they were glad the overnight storm Wednesday wasn’t as bad as some had feared. They were already anxious about the length of the power outage and wondered if it would be extended.

Jane Grant of Gaylord said she needs to throw away all the spoiled food in her refrigerator but hasn’t found the energy. She said she’s waiting until power returns before she starts thinking about what needs to be done next.

“What more can it do? We already lost power,” Grant said about the threatened follow-up storm. “The damage has been done.”

In a letter sent Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Jack Bergman, a Watersmeet Republican who represents parts of northern Michigan, asked Trump to visit the impacted Michigan communities. A visit from the president would bring national attention to the storm's damage and encourage first responders, utility workers and volunteers working to restore essential services, he said.

"The effects of the storm have been particularly devastating in our rural and remote communities, where recovery efforts face additional logistical challenges," Bergman wrote.

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel encouraged residents without electricity to fill out the power outage credit feedback and inquiry form, which helps her office with ratepayer advocacy. She specifically encouraged customers, both residents and business owners, who believe they are owed a power outage credit and either didn't receive it or received less than they were owed to complete it.

"While dealing with the aftermath can be overwhelming, making sure you receive the credits you’re owed should be one less thing to worry about," Nessel said in a statement.

As restoration efforts continued, the Mackinac Bridge closed for the third time in three days this week because of falling ice from the span, the bridge authority said, with the latest closure occurred at 2:30 a.m. It had been closed for most of Tuesday due to falling melting ice but reopened for a few hours after the temperatures dipped back below freezing.

Due to severe weather in lower northern Michigan, the bridge is expected to remain closed until at least 7 a.m. Thursday, Michigan State Police said in a post on X.

The vast majority or more than 31,000 of the Presque Isle Electric & Gas Co-op's customers continued to be without power late Wednesday afternoon across its nine-county region in northeast Michigan. The co-op has warned there are hundreds of downed poles, and each takes several hours to replace, meaning restoration of power will take five days or more.

Consumers Energy reported 2,058 outages affecting 48,700 customers across its service area, which includes both northern and southern Michigan.

Alpena Power reported 11,485 affected by outages as of Wednesday afternoon, 7,008 of whom were still without power. Great Lakes Energy, which serves western northern Michigan from the tip of the mitten to Holland, reported hundreds of outages affecting 35,104, and Cloverland Electric Cooperative, which provides power in the eastern Upper Peninsula, reported 2,774 outages affecting 6.4% of its 43,529 customers.

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