Strong winds and heavy rain, accompanied by half a dozen tornados, damaged areas of Michigan about three weeks ago. Hundreds of thousands of people lost power for days, but fortunately, casualties were minimal.

In response, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer declared a state of emergency for some areas of the state. But the governor has since unilaterally extended those emergencies, in a manner similar to what she tried to do during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic.

Whitmer issued the first emergency declaration Aug. 25, related to the late summer thunderstorms. The declaration covered Wayne and Monroe counties. Michigan’s Emergency Management Act enables governors to issue emergency declarations for a maximum of 28 days, so this order was set to expire on Sept. 22.

The governor’s second emergency declaration came three days later and covered Eaton, Livingston and Ingham counties, as well as the city of South Lyon. This order was set to expire 28 days later, on Sept. 25. But this second declaration also included Wayne and Monroe counties. This means that, technically, the governor redeclared an emergency for these counties, effectively extending the Aug. 25 one beyond 28 days