News Photo by Steve Schulwitz Queen BZ Tanning and Skincare owner Bev Banks schedules an appointment at her shop on Monday. Banks was forced to close her business for days because of the ice storm and lost critical and needed revenue.

ALPENA — The crippling ice storm that caused tens of thousands of people to live without heat and electricity for many days also had a significant impact on their finances.

The storm forced many people to spend money to repair damage to their homes, on gas, items needed to heat or power their homes, and purchase groceries because what was stored in refrigerators and freezers had spoiled.

The storm also took a financial toll on local governments, as they had to dip into funds to cover the cost of an increased volume of emergency response calls, debris removal, and other expenses.

Dakota Noel said the storm was expensive and forced her to spend money on things she wouldn’t normally have to. She said the storm also damaged a portion of her property that will need to be repaired, and that will increase the financial hardship.

“Food, gas for vehicles and the generator, batteries, and oil was about $750. We have a family of seven,” she said. “We also had to buy a used generator for $150, and we have a broken fence that we haven’t gotten an estimate on yet.”

Gilmore Jordan was still without power on Monday, and the cost of the storm continues to rise for him. He said he still has clean-up work he needs to do, which will add to the storm’s bill, and overall, finances will be tight for a while.

“I’ve probably spent $300 running the generator and lost a couple hundred dollars in the food I lost,” he said. “I lost a couple of days of work, so things will be tight. It’s also going to cost a lot of money in labor for cleaning up the trees on my property.”

Tianna Palmer said her family was fortunate to borrow a generator, but keeping it fueled was expensive. She said, like others, her basement flooded, and that will cost her more to address.

“I had to buy extra food, a lot of gas for the generator, which we were blessed to borrow, and my husband had to remove water from our basement a few times,” she said. “We had to buy batteries, lights, and all that kind of stuff.”

Sharlet Blanton said she and her husband each missed three days of work and had to find lodging that had power so her son could utilize his needed medical equipment.

Still, Blanton said, she feels lucky because there were many other people who were living in worse situations.

“We had to find electricity to charge my son’s feeding machine, and we were fortunate to have help,” she said. “There was the cost of all the food that was spoiled, and we’re still working on our recovery. But, overall, I feel blessed our situation could have been worse as it is for so many.”

Bev Banks had her business, Queen BZ Tanning and Skincare, closed while it was without power and for days after power was restored to it. She said her experience as a nurse and as an employee of the Alpena Township Fire Department was needed to assist those with emergencies during the storm’s aftermath, and that was more important than her business at that time.

Still, Banks said, she lost a significant amount of revenue for the time the shop was closed as her services help her customers prepare for summer.

“This is my busy season when I average about 26 people a day, and I lost that,” she said. “It is a heavy hit during my peak season. Plus, the money clients might have allocated for wellness was used to pay for survival things like fuel, water, and heat. I can tell you that since I reopened, the amount of people who have come in as an escape from the stress and their feedback has been phenomenal.”

The story is the same for many people who live in Northeast Michigan, whether their power has been restored already or not. Some said the full extent of the storm’s cost may not be known until the bills for repairs and help begin to flow in.

Jake Hauch said he had to hire an electrician to fix a portion of his electrical system on the side of his house and will need to hire someone to clean up all of the debris from the fallen trees on his property. He said when the power went out, he traveled to Oscoda to purchase a couple of portable propane heaters and the tanks needed to ignite them. He said he was also forced to throw away a freezer full of meat and other food from his refrigerator, and expenses piled up quickly.

“I have to be at least $500 or more into it already, and I still haven’t replaced all of my food, and I don’t know how much my electrical repairs and tree removal is going to be,” he said. “I don’t know if it’s going to be in the hundreds or the thousands. Either way, I’m probably going to be broke for a while.”

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