Tens of thousands without power as strong storms sweep across Michigan

LANSING, Mich. (News 10) — Tens of thousands of Consumers Energy customers woke up without power Friday morning after strong storms swept across Michigan overnight.

As of 2:30 p.m., a little more than 16,000 Consumers Energy customers across the state were still without electricity, according to the utility’s outage map.

A large concentration of outages was reported near the Barry-Ionia county line late Thursday night. Several thousand customers were also without power north of Battle Creek, while another significant cluster of outages was reported near the Indiana border in Branch County.

Consumers Energy said crews restored power to more than 26,000 customers overnight. Since the start of the severe weather, more than 172,000 customers have had service restored, according to the utility.

“Our crews have made tremendous progress restoring power to homes and businesses across the state and will continue working to ensure all remaining customers are restored as quickly and safely as possible,” said Jean Kang, one of Consumers Energy’s officers in charge for restoration. “Our customers rely on us to provide energy they can count on and we are committed to working around the clock until every customer impacted by this series of storms is restored.”

RELATED COVERAGE:

Earlier Thursday, Consumers provided an update on its storm restoration efforts following severe weather that swept across Michigan Wednesday night.

The utility said more than 700 crews had been deployed across the state after storms brought heavy rain, strong winds and flooding.

With the additional severe weather in the forecast Thursday night, including the potential for damaging winds and tornadoes, Consumers Energy said crews were already being positioned strategically to respond as conditions change.

“From the beginning of this event last night, we have 79 damage assessment teams who are around the state using drones and other technologies to get out ahead of the crews and assess damage so we know what to prepare for,” said Greg Salisbury with Consumers Energy.

Consumers officials say customers who experienced power outages during the first round of storms should expect power to be restored by Thursday night.

Salisbury said the plan is to start with critical customers like hospitals, police and fire, priority customers, and the hardest hit areas.

“We have our mobile command centers and material staging in Plainwell and Ionia, which are areas that are especially hard hit,” Salisbury said.

The company is urging customers to remain alert and use caution around downed power lines, flooded areas and storm debris. Officials are also encouraging residents to stay cool and hydrated as high temperatures continue across the region.

DTE Energy says if you come across a downed power line, always assume it is live and dangerous:

• Stay at least 25 feet away — about a school bus-length — at all times
• Keep children and pets indoors until crews can address it
• Never use a portable generator indoors to prevent exposure to carbon monoxide

If you find a downed power line, stay away and call 911 and report it to your utility company. Report Power Line Problem | DTE Energy or Report an Issue | Consumers Energy.

Stay with News 10 Lansing for the latest updates as they become available on-air and online.

Stream News 10 Lansing on your favorite devices! Here’s how to download the News 10+ app on Roku, Fire TV or Apple TV.

Be the first to see the Mid-Michigan headlines you care about – download the News 10+ app and subscribe to our News 10 newsletter and YouTube page to receive the latest local news and weather.