U.S. Representative Bill Huizenga met with emergency personnel and the U.S. Forest Service to assess the damage after two tornadoes hit Lake County.
Concerned members of the community joined Huizenga to discuss the situation and what can be done to help.
The meeting was held Saturday in the Village of Baldwin to share what Lake County is dealing with after the storm. U.S. Forest Service district ranger Jake Lubera helped lead the discussion of what efforts are being done to the community.
“He can better represent the citizens of this area and congress when it comes to what we have going on in the ground and help rebuild the story of Lake County and surrounding counties, the damage that happened and how great these people have worked together to really manage it,” said Lubera.
Under 500 Consumers Energy Customers are still without power in Lake County.
“It’s hard to sometimes visualize as friends and community leaders are explaining and trying to describe what’s going on. I can tell you rolling up to the meeting at the U.S. Forest Service seeing a tree down and blue tarp on the roof it’s like, okay everybody has been affected by this, even those responsible hoping to respond and recover from the incident,” said Huizenga.
Huizenga hopes more volunteers will come to the county to do at home electrical repairs.
He also addressed recreational sites in the area and says they should be cleared for incoming tourists because he says the county is a recreational county.
“The forest service in return has been identifying infrastructure recognizing that it is Labor Day weekend bringing folks on board, so folks that are coming up to visit us are going to be able to do so in a safe and happy environment,” said Lubera.
After seeing the damage in Lake County, Huizenga plans to advocate for help from the governor to get disaster relief funding.
“We will go be an advocate at the federal level once we have the formal request from the governor’s office,” said Huizenga.
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