Emergency Repairs to Residential Gas Service Will Close Long Lake Road

Consumers Energy plans to close the eastbound lane of Long Lake Road between Orchard Lake Road and Middlebelt Road on Friday in West Bloomfield.

"The closure is expected to remain in place until some time tonight. The closure is needed so Consumers can make an emergency repair to a residential gas service," according to a press release.

A winter weather advisory was in effect until noon today after freezing rain pounded the area early this morning, closing the West Bloomfield School District, Bloomfield Hills Schools, Walled Lake Consolidated Schools and the Pontiac School District among others.

"Between 4:30-6 a.m., it was felt that conditions were safe enough, our buses left the garage, and attempted to run. At 6:15–6:30, the rain turned to ice on the streets. This freezing rain caused the road conditions to swiftly deteriorate and made it necessary for the buses to return to the garage," the West Bloomfield School District said in a press release. "Today, as the morning hours brought worse conditions, it was decided that it was too dangerous to attempt to bring students in on buses."

The National Weather Service, based in Pontiac, issued the advisory and said the light snow, sleet and freezing rain would transition to rain later in the morning. The forecast proved essentially correct as the high reached 44 by noon and rain continued through mid-afternoon.

"According to the manager of the emergency department, we've had 12 emergency department visits since 7 a.m. relating to ice conditions. They've been slip and fall and motor vehicle accidents," said Liz Trudeau, public relations associate at

Lt. Tim Diamond of the West Bloomfield Police Department said that road conditions are "terrible" and that the police had been called for "six-seven accidents" this morning with three of those involving personal injuries.

"That's not including the cars that slid off the road with no damage — we've had a handful of those," he said. "I'd advise drivers to slow down, and leave a lot of space, because the most common accidents we see are rear-end accidents. Just give yourself enough time to get to where you're going."

The remained open for class, as did Farmington Public Schools, Birmingham Public Schools and the Waterford School District.

of West Bloomfield and reported no canceled classes.