Utility crews remain busy for days after two waves of storms knocked out power throughout western and northern Michigan.
As of Friday afternoon, 132,000 Consumers Energy customers were still without power. Much of mid-Michigan appeared to have power restored, according to the utility’s outage map.
On Wednesday evening, more than 600,000 were in the dark throughout the state with another round of storms looming in the coming hours. And on Thursday morning, nearly 775,000 were waiting for restoration of electricity after a second wave of overnight and a third wave in the Detroit area during the morning commute.
More than 100,000 of the 350,000 customers without power have been restored as of 8 a.m. Thursday. Our crews are on the ground working until everyone is back on. Get outage updates here: https://t.co/gByoIO1E7f pic.twitter.com/INXgpodGZA
— Consumers Energy (@ConsumersEnergy) August 12, 2021
At 9:30 a.m. Wednesday, nearly 177,000 homes and businesses remained without power, according to the Consumers Energy outage map. At 8:30 a.m. Thursday, Consumers reported about 248,000 outages, with some estimated times for restoration stretching into Sunday. It was down to near 243,000 by 10 a.m. Thursday, and then down to 235,000 shortly after noon.
Additional storms on Wednesday afternoon knocked out power for more Michiganders in metro Detroit, and another two waves pushed outages downstate — where DTE Energy provides electricity — to more than 500,000 .
At about 8 a.m. Thursday, more than 776,000 were without power scattered throughout Michigan.
Just before 6 p.m. Wednesday, Consumers Energy reported nearly 220,000 customers still without power, from 3,885 outages.
That number increased Wednesday night as another round of stormy weather crossed the state northwest to southeast.
“We continue to be grateful for the patience of our friends and neighbors as we work to bring the lights back on,” said Guy Packard, Consumers Energy’s vice president for electric operations in a statement. “The storms that have struck our state should finally subside today, and we are confident that over 500 crews from Michigan and across the country will help bring back power to many of our customers.”
Consumers Energy reported that by 4:30 p.m. Wednesday power had been restored to 55,000 customers from the 277,000 impacted.
“That total includes approximately 60,000 additional outages from new storms that are moving through Michigan this afternoon,” Consumers Energy said in a statement. “Mutual assistance crews from Kentucky, Indiana and Ohio will soon join more than 300 Consumers Energy and contract crews.”
If anyone see a downed power line, they should call 9-1-1 or Consumers at 800-477-5050 and remain 25 feet away at least. In all, about 2,500 power lines were knocked down in the overnight storms as winds reached up to 70 mph.
“Our top priority remains to restore power as quickly and safely as possible to affected customers, but two additional storm fronts are expected to race across much of Michigan later today and tonight,” Packard said Wednesday. “These storms may unleash high winds, rain and lightning, bringing additional outages and impacting estimated restoration times.”
In all, more than 626,000 homes and businesses in Michigan were without power on Wednesday evening, as DTE Energy saw more than a quarter-million customers lose power seemingly in minutes as a fast-moving storm crossed over metro Detroit. As the storms crossed eastward, an additional 100,000 were in the dark in Macomb County.
The morning started with those just to the west of Mt. Pleasant, about 2,700 customers, were in the dark — and without air conditioning — and had an estimated restoration of about 11:30 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 11.
The northern portion of the widespread outages runs from northeast of Muskegon to Big Rapids through Remus and Mt. Pleasant through to Standish.
But Consumers’ crews also must contend with widespread outages around Grand Rapids.
“Crews have been deployed with more on the way. Restoration updates are likely to occur as crews assess local damage,” Consumers Energy stated.
Just before 10 a.m. Wednesday, the temperature in Mt. Pleasant was already 75 degrees with a high expected to reach 86 degrees, according to accuweather.com. By noon, the temperatures was to be at 80 degrees with the hottest part of the day between 4 to 7 p.m.
In southeastern Michigan, the storms appeared to have weakened so as to not cause significant damage. DTE Energy reported just a single large outage, impacting about 3,000 customers in Macomb County in the morning. However, by 3 p.m. another round of storms was moving through the area. By 6 p.m., DTE Energy reported 406,000 customers without power.
