JACKSON, Michigan — Linemen and crews working to restore power to much of southern Michigan impacted by last week's ice storm aren't going to see much of a break.
Consumers Energy says crews have been working around the clock to turn the lights on for folks hit hard by last week's ice storm. Crews have since restored service for about 260,000 customers, and almost everyone who lost power last week is expected to have their power back by the end of the day Monday.
Monday brought a wintry mix of freezing rain with crews now responding to multiple new outages in mid and northern Michigan.
“There are more than 600 crews working directly on restoring customers’ power and we will stay in ‘storm mode’ -- working extended shifts, day and night -- until all our customers have their lights restored,” said Amanda Wagenschutz, one of Consumers Energy’s officers in charge for the event. “I am so impressed by the response from our customers to our hard-working employees, and on behalf of Consumers Energy sincerely thank our customers for their abundance of patience.”
Up to a half-inch of ice could arrive during Monday's storm, which is crippling for power lines, Consumers Energy says.
As of Monday at 5 p.m., about 45% of customers in Montcalm County and nearly 30 percent of customers in Newaygo County had power out.
About 81,000 people had their power out as of 5 p.m. Monday, according to the power company's outage map.
Ice weighs down trees and electric grid, putting as much weight as a baby grand piano on a single span of power line, Consumers Energy says.
Be on the lookout dor downed wires. You should stay at least 25 feet away from a downed wire and call 911 if you see one.
- Be careful while crews continue to work along roads. Drivers should slow down or stop and wait for oncoming traffic to clear so they safely can go past workers on roadsides.
- Call 2-1-1, a free statewide service, if you are looking for help connecting to resources that offer assistance in their community, including warming centers.
- 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.
To see the latest outages and estimated restoration times, check Consumers Energy's outage map.
Consumers Energy customers can get updates on the continuing restoration work by signing 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.
People who don’t sign up for alerts can report and check on the status of outages at www.ConsumersEnergy.com/OutageCenter.
Consumers Energy provides natural gas and electricity to about 6.7 million Michiganders.
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