Mother Nature showed no respect for the 2019 Main Street celebration in downtown Wayland Saturday.
A terrible combination of heat, humidity and storms caused the annual festival to be canceled halfway through, at about 5 p.m. The weather conditions created an early Saturday morning rainstorm with high winds that snapped a lot of tree limbs, which could be seen along streets in the city in rural environs.
Because there was no power downtown, there was no music. And because of oppressive heat that included mid-90s in temperatures and triple digits in the heat index, volunteers and officials finally decided to throw in the towel.
One official said over the Internet there was another rainstorm expected to visit Wayland and indeed it came in about 5 p.m.
Tree limbs were located and handled by Consumers Power workers, and power was partially restored just before 8 p.m. and just before 10 p.m. Consumers Power officials estimated that more than 3,500 households were affected locally and more than 500,000 statewide.
The worst damage was along the south side of West Sycamore Street, across the street from the Pine Street Elementary playground. A long strip of nearly two blocks, from Main Street to Pearl, included cordoned off areas of downed wires and tree limbs.
Though power was restored Saturday in the Wayland area, there were reports that nearby rural areas such as Dorr may have to wait until Monday. There were reports that most businesses and residences along 142nd Avenue west of the U.S.-131 expressway were still powerless as of Saturday night.
COVER PHOTO: This photo, courtesy of Marian Jarman, shows a fallen tree that fell across West Sycamore Street and blocked traffic for some time.
