MICHIGAN, USA — Consumers Energy officials say power is expected to be restored to customers in the hardest-hit areas by the end of Monday.
This comes after severe storms left widespread damage across the state on Thursday. The National Weather Service determined seven tornadoes touched down across Michigan, causing downed powerlines and trees, heavily damaged houses and impassable roads.
Over 200,000 people were without power following the storms. Consumers Energy deployed a record number of crews that included workers from six states.
Currently, about 98% of customers have power, with about 32,000 still in the dark, according to the Consumers Energy outage map.
"Our crews worked tirelessly overnight to make significant progress restoring power and we appreciate our customers’ patience as we work to clean up the mess made by high winds and three confirmed tornadoes,” said Scott McIntosh, one of Consumers Energy’s Officers in Charge for the storm. “Restoring power is our no. 1 job and our lineworkers will continue putting in 16-hour shifts, around-the-clock until every last community is restored.”
Consumers Energy says the following areas are being prioritized and are expected to have power restored Monday:
- Kent County, including Plainfield, 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.
Over the weekend, Consumers Energy has offered community meals and free tickets for attractions to help those without power.
Officials are encouraging Michiganders to stay safe as cleanup continues. They released a list of safety tips to follow:
- Be alert to 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.
- 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 a real-time outage map, click here.
►Make it easy to keep up to date with more stories like this. Download the 13 ON YOUR SIDE app now.
Have a news tip? Email news@13onyourside.com, visit our Facebook page or Twitter. Subscribe to our YouTube channel.
