GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Crews are working around the clock to restore power to West Michigan after Wednesday's storms and high winds.
Around 240,000 Consumer's Energy customers lost power across the state Wednesday. Vice President of Customer Experience for Consumer's Energy Lauren Youngdahl Snyder said the hardest hit counties were Calhoun, Kent, and Branch.
In Kent County, around 20,000 customers lost power Wednesday. By 4pm Thursday, about half of those had been restored. 10,000 are still waiting for the lights to come back on.
"High winds are tough," said Snyder, "because winds create tree damage and branches fall on power lines and create downed lines. Those are very dangerous."
Thursday, 1,600 Consumer's Energy crew members were working to restore power. Some help from Ohio was brought in as well to speed up restoration times.
"We started yesterday when this storm hit," said Snyder, "There was about 5,000 wire downs across the state, which is a significant amount. So, safety is always at the top of mind for our customers and coworkers. It's not easy. It's a dangerous job, and we have all hands on deck working around the clock."
Restoration times are expected before Friday night. Snyder said with clear weather in the forecast, they are making good progress on that timeline.
To view the Consumer's Energy Outage Map and when restoration is expected for your area, click here.
RELATED VIDEO: Thunderstorms leave behind damage, City of GR warns about possible dangers.
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