Consumers Energy provides update on power restoration after Thursday's storms

JACKSON, Mich. — Consumers Energy provided an update on restoration efforts after strong storms knocked out power for thousands of customers Thursday night.

28 counties in Michigan were under severe thunderstorm and tornado warning last night, according to Consumers Energy.

Consumers Energy said one tornado was confirmed between Kalamazoo and Battle Creek, and officials from Consumers Energy expect about five to six more to be confirmed by the National Weather Service.

As of 12:40 p.m., about 178,800 customers were affected by the outages, and 4,915 outages remain, according to an outage map provided by Consumers Energy.

A large part of these outages span from the Lake Michigan shoreline, north to as far as Muskegon County, and over to as far as Eaton/Ingham Counties, the map shows.

About 477 line crews have been working to restore power for customers, with 163 crews from Consumers, and another 263 are contractor crews, plus other specialists.

They anticipate having 550 crews working, and workers have been on a 16 and eight schedule.

Crews are focusing on the hardest hit areas, which include the Kalamazoo, Battle Creek, Muskegon and Hamilton areas. Consumers Energy said they expect to get a majority of these areas restored no later than Sunday night. The other areas are expected to be restored Saturday night, officials said.

With thunderstorms expected to hit again Friday night, Consumers Energy is encouraging residents to remain vigilant. Winds of 60 mph, along with hail are possible between 8 p.m. and 1 a.m.