GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Consumers Energy crews have surpassed the halfway point in restoring service to more than 245,000 customers who lost power in severe thunderstorms Tuesday and Wednesday.
As of 11:45 a.m. Friday, about about 85,000 customers remained without service.
Many of the remaining customers will be restored by the end of Friday. Restoration work for areas with heavier damage, including customers in Branch, Calhoun, Kent, Jackson and Saginaw counties, may continue into the weekend.
Strong winds from storms on Tuesday and Wednesday brought winds up to 70 mph, knocking down trees along with nearly 5,000 electric wires and broke more than 200 poles.
Customers can report an outage, check the status of an outage and get useful tips what to do after a storm by visiting the Consumers Energy Outage Center.
PHOTOS: Storm damage across West Michigan
Downed power line safety tips:
- 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.
- Call 2-1-1 if you are looking for help connecting to temporary shelter or other resources that offer 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.
- 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 which holds the electric service wires to a customer’s 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.
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