Previous Story
Thousands Could Be Without Power Through Weekend After Damaging Winds
Posted On Mar 09 2017
Comment: Off
The 55th District Court in Ingham County closed Wednesday afternoon due to a power outage. We have crews all over the metropolitan area from the thumb down to Monroe dealing with down power wires.
The high winds resulted in more than 3,000 downed power lines as gusts exceeded 60 miles per hour.
Consumers Energy spokesman Roger Morgenstern says this widespread power outage is one of the biggest they’ve ever dealt with.
A massive effort to restore power to more than a half million DTE Energy customers could last through the weekend.
National Weather Service Meteorologist Tim Locker said high winds are expected to continue into the early evening and slowly begin dying down thereafter. An additional 130 workers are on their way from utilities in Kentucky, Ohio and in to assist the crews in MI.
Regionally, electricity losses affect at least 230,000 Southeast Michigan customers, DTE Energy says.
Crews will work 16 hours shifts in the coming days. “”If a light is inoperative, please treat these intersections as a 4-way stop and use caution.””. He said the city will not charge any fees for any storm-related permits needed in the event a structure damaged by winds needs to be demolished. If you see power lines down, treat them as if they are live wires.
As of 12:45 p.m.
“We’ve had about 630,000 customers affected at this point”, said DTE Electric President Trevor Lauer said Wednesday afternoon.
As of Thursday morning, Consumer’s representatives estimated some 120,000 households had their power restored. DTE advised MI residents to use extreme caution if they come into contact with a downed line.
Consumers will update its progress next at approximately 11:30 a.m. today. Some municipal facilities were also closed Thursday, such as the Mahany/Meininger Community Center in Royal Oak. “We are still receiving new outages and new reports of trouble”. Parked right next to it is a storm restoration truck that supplies crews with everything they need to get the power back on.
