Passers-by on South University Avenue Saturday may have noticed a startling change in the appearance of Leo”s Coney Island. The strong winds demolished two windows of the building”s south face, through which gusts continued to blow and damaged the restaurant”s interior.
- Paul Wong
- Mike Jefferies, director of maintenance for University Towers on South University Avenue, cleans debris and broken glass outside Leo”s Coney Island. High winds in Ann Arbor Saturday afternoon shattered the restaurant”s windows at around 3 p.m.<br><br>DAVI
“We always have a strong wind tunnel on this street,” Leo”s owner Andrew Kotzovos said. “It intensified the wind and broke the windows.”
Dennis Kahlbaum, the University weather observer, said that cold air from Canada and warm air from the Gulf of Mexico reacted with the jet stream over Michigan to cause the weather.
“A powerful low pressure system brought the winds and a strong cold front brought the temperature,” Kahlbaum said.
Although he recorded the peak gusts at 58 mph Saturday, Kahlbaum added the retreat of the low pressure system into Canada yesterday that should steadily diminish the turbulent wind.
Students agreed that the weather caused problems and was unpleasant.
“It was very cold and very horrible,” LSA junior Elizabeth Brennan said.
“It”s definitely unusually cold right now, especially with the earlier warm weather,” LSA sophomore Katherine Woolley said. “Overall, I think it”s something that”s happening everywhere.”
LSA sophomore William Stewart said that a window in his apartment shattered, leaving shards of glass across his driveway.
More than 160,000 residents and institutions in Southeast Michigan have reported a loss of power to Detroit Edison Electric Company, the chief provider of electricity to the area. Spokesman John Austerberry said that the company brought in workers from other states and worked through the weekend to repair the damage.
“We expect to have the vast majority back by Tuesday,” he said. “Because the wind storm caused scattered outages, each repair may help only a handful of people.”
Department of Public Safety spokeswoman Diane Brown said yesterday that no one has reported any major damage to University buildings or any loss of electricity.