The storm hit Michigan on the night of Dec. 22. Originally, the Board of Water and Light, or BWL, estimated that about 25,000 people lost power in the Lansing area. BWL since has increased the estimate to 34,800.

East Lansing City Councilmember Ruth Beier said many residents in East Lansing who lost power regained it eight or nine days later. BWL reported power was fully restored to its electric service territory by Jan. 1, with the exception of some customers requiring additional repairs.

A group of community members organized a demonstration on Dec. 28 in support of the BWL workers and to protest BWL procedure following the outages at Glencairn Elementary School.

Some students also encountered property damage. Hospitality business freshman Annie Fata said both her and her brother’s cars suffered damage due to fallen trees at their house on Blackberry Lane in Lansing.

Although a large tree branch fell on her car, Fata said she was surprised she was only left with a dent in the hood of her Pontiac Grand Prix. A shroud of large tree branches covered the front of her brother’s car, which resulted in multiple dents.

Packaging junior MaryGrace Mayotte said the branches that fell on her family’s house on Hitching Post Road left two holes in the roof.

“Our house looked like a beaver dam — our whole front and backyards were just covered in branches,” Mayotte said. “My dad just patched the holes up for now, but we will probably have to get the roof redone.”

Mayotte said she is unsure about the cost of the damage.

In addition to property damage, the slow process of restoring power in East Lansing has left some questioning the relationship between the city and BWL.

“East Lansing doesn’t really have any say in the relationship, but I think the problem is it’s not a big enough company to handle what it is trying to handle in Lansing and East Lansing,” Beier said. “In my opinion, BWL did not have enough staff to handle a crisis this big.”

A loss of electricity and the frigid winter temperatures left many students who stayed in the city throughout the break worrying about how to keep warm in their homes.

Mathematics junior Nolan Pacitto, who lives in Lansing, said he went without power for two days by the time he left for home on Christmas Eve. Most of his food was not spared.

“It stunk losing power right before Christmas and losing all of my food,” Pacitto said.

Although Beier said the city will not switch companies, she wants BWL to come to an open meeting and discuss future procedures.

Staff reporter Geoff Preston contributed to this report.