JACKSON, Mich. — As storms ran through the state over the weekend, thousands of people were left without power on Sunday. Consumers Energy is hoping to get that fixed as soon as they can with almost 200 crews working throughout the night.
They say they are making significant progress. As of 9 p.m. Sunday evening, less than 27,000 customers across the state were still left without power, a major drop from the reported 93,000. On Monday morning, that number dropped to only 7,400 people without power.
“We appreciate Consumers Energy’s customers and their patience and understanding as crews worked around the clock today to make significant progress restoring power across the state,” said Roger Curtis, Consumers Energy’s officer in charge of restoration work. “We have more work to do tonight and into Monday, and we won’t stop until the job is done.”
Consumers Energy says they expect all power to be restored on Monday by 6 p.m.
As the crews work throughout the day and night, Curtis urges people to stay clear of the site for everyone's safety.
Also, ensure there is at least a 25-foot distance between you and your loved ones, especially children, and fallen power lines.
“We are in the homestretch, and we want our team members and customers to stay safe as crews work to get all of our customers fully restored as soon as possible,” Curtis said.
Consumers Energy also asks the public to keep important safety tips in mind:
- Be alert to crews working along the 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 if looking for help connecting to resources offering assistance in your community. 2-1-1 is a free statewide service.
- 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.
If you need to report an outage, or check the status of one, click here. You can also get outage alerts for restoration times to your phone or email by texting 'REG' to 232273 or by clicking here.
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