Consumers Energy Restoration Efforts Continue After Severe Windstorm Across State

Fallen tree causing property damage and downed lines.  Consumers Energy photo.

Consumers Energy Thursday afternoon storm update:

(December 16, 2021 4:54 PM)  Amid challenging weather conditions, Consumers Energy began bringing power back for customers Thursday after an overnight storm featuring 65 to 75-mile-per-hour winds caused damage across the state and impacted over 181,000 total Consumers Energy customers. Crews have been able to restore power to 27,000 customers, and as high winds begin to subside this evening, over 350 crews will continue to work through the night on restoration efforts.

“During and after a storm, our crews work as swiftly and safely as possible to protect the public and restore service to our customers,” said Christine Wisniewski, one of Consumers Energy’s Officers in Charge for the storm event. “We saw 65 to 75 mph wind gusts early this morning – in some cases meeting the range equivalent to category one hurricane winds. We also saw sustained high winds throughout the day, making safe restoration efforts even more challenging. Nothing is more important than protecting our customers, our co-workers and the communities we serve. With these high winds dying down this evening, we expect more friendly weather conditions for restoration.”

Severe winds hit west and northwest lower Michigan late Wednesday night and into Thursday morning. Winds knocked down trees, limbs and over 1,800 power lines.

Consumers Energy expects a large majority of customers to be restored by the end of the day tomorrow, and all customers to be restored by the end of the day Saturday.

Customers can report an outage and check the status of outage 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.

Wisniewski urged people to stay at least 25 feet away from downed power lines, keep children or pets away, and report the issue by calling 9-1-1 and Consumers Energy at 800-477-5050. Consumers Energy asks the public to keep a safe distance from crews due to health precautions and to allow them to do their work.

Consumers Energy also asks the public to keep 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 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. Read more guidance on safe generator use here.
• 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.