(June 11, 2020 6:34 AM) Consumers Energy crews worked through the night to restore power to Michigan homes and businesses after storms with 70 mph winds tore through Lower Michigan in the past two days.
“Our crews have been able to work safely and efficiently all night, restoring power to over 90,000 homes and businesses since Tuesday. With better weather in the forecast, we expect to continue making progress today,” said Guy Packard, Consumers Energy’s vice president for electric operations. “We appreciate the patience of our communities and the customers we serve.”
Over 240,000 customers have lost power since the first storms struck the state early Tuesday evening. As of 4:30 a.m. Thursday, about 151,000 customers were affected. According to the Consumers Energy outage map, approximately 10,000 customers in Jackson County remain without power. Strong winds brought down many trees, limbs, utility poles and power lines during the series of storms Wednesday.
Over 230 Consumers Energy employee and contractor crews are working to help customers affected by the storms.
Consumers Energy expects restoration work will continue through Friday for most of the impacted customers. Restoration for some of the hardest hit areas such as Branch, Calhoun, Jackson, Kent and Saginaw counties may continue into the weekend.
Customers can report an outage, check the status of an outage and get useful tips what to do after a storm by visiting www.ConsumersEnergy.com/OutageCenter. Customers can also sign up to get outage alerts and restoration times sent to a phone, email or text message, Text ‘REG’ to 232273 or visit www.ConsumersEnergy.com/alerts.
Packard urged customers and the public to stay at least 25 feet away from downed wires, keep children or pets away, and report the issue by calling 9-1-1 and Consumers Energy at 800-477-5050. Consumers Energy crews are taking extra health and safety precautions because of the COVID-19 situation and asks the public to keep at least six feet of distance from its crews.
Consumers Energy also urges the public to keep these important safety tips in mind:
- 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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