COMSTOCK PARK, Mich. — Tuesday was day five for people still waiting to get the lights turned back on after last week's storms. Consumers Energy says people should not be waiting much longer. The company expects everyone to have the power back by tomorrow.
Michele Champion, a Comstock Park resident who's power went out the night of the storm, says it finally came back nearly four days later.
"It was like the sun shining down on us with a rainbow," she says. "It felt that good to have power back."
So after all that time without it, what did she do first when it came back on?
"I made a cup of coffee," laughs Champion. "I really did. I made a cup of coffee and it was the best coffee ever."
It was a wait she hadn't experienced before.
"I've been without power before, never for that long," says Champion.
And one she wasn't alone in enduring.
"We know it's been a frustrating few days for those customers," says Josh Paciorek, a spokesperson for Consumers Energy.
Paciorek says storms like last week's present a challenge they're beginning to face more often.
"We've been seeing more and more frequent, severe weather events here in Michigan," he says. "I know we saw in 2021 one of the largest summer thunderstorms that we saw in our company's history."
And each time, they learn a little more than before.
"We can't control Mother Nature, but we can control how we respond to them," says Paciorek. "And so that's when we use these after action reports to see what can we improve on in our weather and our storm response for future storms."
So that next time around, people like Champion hopefully won't have to wait as long to flip the light switch back on.
"That was the best feeling in the world," she says.
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