MICHIGAN, USA — As of 3 p.m. Sunday, Consumers Energy said they had restored power to 70% of the roughly 200,000 homes and businesses that lost power after Thursday's severe weather.
Consumers said they are using Sunday to prioritize restoring power to schools, and will contact any and all schools they are unable to restore power to Sunday due to "particularly severe storm impacts."
While Consumers originally hoped to have power restored by the end of the weekend, they said due to severe damage, they hope to restore power in communities hit hardest by Thursday’s storm by the end of Monday. Those communities are:
- Kent County, including Plainfield, Walker, Rockford, Lowell and surrounding areas.
- Ionia County, including Saranac, Clarksville and surrounding areas.
- Ingham County, including Stockbridge and the surrounding area.
- Eaton County, including Grand Ledge, Dimondale, Potterville and surrounding areas.
- Jackson County, including Jackson, Napoleon, Brooklyn and surrounding areas.
- Livingston County, including Cohoctah Township, Deerfield Township and surrounding areas.
“Today is a critical day in our restoration process as we work to safely restore power to the state’s schools ahead of the new school week,” said Greg Salisbury, one of Consumers Energy’s Officers in Charge of restoration. “Because of severe damage, we regret that some of our hardest-hit communities will see power restored Monday, but we’re working to ensure most customers will finish the weekend with power. I thank our customers and communities for their patience as we continue working around the clock.”
Consumers customers can continue to check the status of outages at www.ConsumersEnergy.com/OutageCenter. They can also sign up to get outage alerts and restoration times sent to a phone, email or text message, Text ‘REG' to 232273 or visit www.ConsumersEnergy.com/alerts.
Salisbury also continued to urge people to be alert to any crews they see working along roads. Reminding drivers to slow down or stop and wait for oncoming traffic to clear so they safely can go past workers on roadsides.
Consumers Energy urges the public to keep important safety tips in mind:
- Stay at least 25 feet away from downed power lines, and to report unguarded downed lines by calling 9-1-1 and Consumers Energy at 800-477-5050.
- 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. Read more guidance on safe generator use here.
- 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 that holds the electric service wires to a 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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