MUSKEGON COUNTY, Mich. — Muskegon County officials said Wednesday they were able to get the power restored to more than 100,000 customers Wednesday, but there is a lot of work that still needs to be done.
"We know that the loss of energy is significant and brings many challenges. That was very apparent today," said Norman Kapala, Vice President of Operations at Consumers Energy.
After storms ripped through Muskegon County Tuesday morning, the cleanup continues.
"Fire crews are diligently working out in the communities again, assessing the damage, assessing what the needs are, and reporting it back to emergency management. We will continue to do that until every hazard is mitigated and taken care of," said Bob Gagnon, Norton Shores Fire Chief.
The storm's destruction left behind damaged homes, broken trees and downed lines throughout Muskegon County.
"Lots of power lines down everywhere. Tree limbs are blocking the roads. You can't go straight from point A to point B. I just talked to a friend and it's a 2-hour drive from Muskegon to get up to the Whitehall area which is normally a 20-minute drive," said Muskegon County resident, Adrian Cook.
Crews worked all day Wednesday to restore the power to more than 135,000 Consumers Energy customers across the state.
"We have over 250 tree crews engaged across the state, over 450 line crews engaged across the state. That leads us to the majority of our customers will be restored by noon tomorrow and Thursday, with the hardest hit areas going into the night tomorrow night, late in the night on Thursday night," said Kapala.
As crews work to clean up the damage and restore the power in Muskegon County, many said they're looking forward to better days.
"Be safe, you know, help each other out. We'll get this cleaned up and this is a great resort town summer destination. We want to get cleaned up and make sure everyone is safe and having a good time," said Cook.
On Thursday, emergency service teams will be on the ground knocking on doors for damage assessments. Officials hope to do evaluations from the data they get for repair efforts.
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