GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - After two rounds of severe weather, Consumers Energy is asking people to stay away from downed power lines.
As of 9 o.m., Consumers Energy said 200,000 people lost power, which caused uprooted trees and downed electric lines in many areas. About 137,000 remain without electricity.
“This series of storms has caused widespread outages, and additional storm activity throughout the weekend could cause additional damage and outages,” said Guy Packard, vice president of electric operations for Consumers Energy. “Our crews are working around the clock to restore service to our customers, but this will be a multi-day restoration effort.”
More than 1,500 downed wires have been attributed to the storm so far. Packard urges that people stay at least 25 feet away from downed power lines, keep children or pets away and report the issue by calling 911 or Consumers Energy at 800-477-5050.
“Our number one focus is to keep the public, our customers and our employee and contractor crews safe as we work 16-hour days to assist us in our restoration efforts. We know how frustrating it is to not have electric service, and we won’t stop until all of our neighbors have power,” Packard said.
CONSUMERS ENERGY SAFETY TIPS
- Call 211 if you are looking for help connecting to temporary shelter or other resources that offer assistance in your community.
- Never use a generator in an attached garage, basement, enclosed patio or near any air intakes. Doing so could cause a generator to produce hazardous levels of carbon monoxide, an odorless, colorless and deadly gas.
- Be alert to utility crews working along roads. Drivers should slow down or stop and wait for oncoming traffic to clear so they safely can go past workers on roadsides.
- Consumers Energy will trim or remove trees interfering with electric restoration activities. Once safe to do so, clean-up of debris from tree trimming or removal during a storm emergency is the responsibility of individual property owners.
- In some cases, the mast which holds the electric service wires to a customer’s home or business may have been damaged or torn away. Crews will reconnect the wires to a home, but only a licensed electrician can repair or replace a mast or a cable.
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