GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — A combination of rain, ice, and wind is having a big impact in West Michigan. Thousands of people are without power Thursday morning.
There are currently 323 outages across the state impacting nearly 19,000 customers.
“Typically when you see wind gusts began to hit 50 miles per hour or more, that's where you have the potential for power outages. Really, the main culprit here are trees, limbs, branches that are falling on the power lines making contact with equipment," said Consumers Energy spokesperson Brian Wheeler. "So we did forecast that there was going to be a chance for bad weather. And of course, power outages like this. So our crews were actually resting up through most of the day yesterday, to be ready to start their work through the night tonight and earlier this morning.”
Nearly 8,000 Consumers Energy customers are without power in Kent, Ottawa and Muskegon counties.
The hardest hit areas in West Michigan appear to be in Rockford and Cedar Springs.
There are more than 4,800 customers without power in Kent County. Ottawa County has more than 1,500 without power. Muskegon County has a little more than 1,400 in the dark.
Quite a few reports have come in of downed power lines and trees.
It's important that you remember if you see a downed wire, do not go near it. You should stay at least 25 feet away, call 911 and then call Consumers Energy.
"Our job is to restore power, but also to make sure we're doing it safely," Wheeler said. "One other thing I'll say too, is that with the work going on this morning, as you're going off to work as you're driving to school this morning, you're going to see Consumers Energy crews. So please do slow down, take your time go a bit as you go around them slowly while they do their work."
Consumers Energy says it has nearly 100 crews in the field right now working on restoring power. Power is estimated to be restored to most customers on Thursday.
Multiple schools across West Michigan have canceled classes for Thursday. To see if your district is on the list, click here. You can also find real-time outage updates at the Consumers Energy website here.
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