76K Remain Without Power Days After Gusty Storms
DETROIT (WWJ) - Tens of thousands of homes and businesses remains without power following gusty storms that blew through the metro Detroit region on Sunday.
As of late Tuesday evening, DTE Energy said about 76,000 customers were still in the dark, and that they expect that number to drop to about 50,000 by midnight. That's down from a peak high of about 302,000 on Sunday. Consumers Energy has about 61,000 customers remaining without power.
Some of the bigger outages are along US-23 south of I-94 in Washtenaw County, and near New Boston just south of Detroit Metro Airport.
Spokesman Trevor Lauer said about 90 percent of those who lost power should be back on the grid by Wednesday night.
"We're working really hard. I can't give an exact date, but our goal is to get all the customers restored as quickly as we can, understanding what an inconvenience it is for everybody not to have electricity in their home or business. But, we're working really hard to make sure that we have it," Lauer told WWJ Newsradio 950.
"We have approximately 3,000 single customers that are out of power," he added. "A single customer outage can take as long as a multiple customer outage."
[TRACK POWER OUTAGES HERE & OUTAGES BY ZIPCODE HERE ]
Sunday's storm was the largest DTE Energy has experienced this year and one of the largest in the last decade. Gusts of up to 70 mph were tracked in the area, sweeping large branches and in many cases entire trees into power lines.
Lauer said all available DTE Energy crews are working 16-hour shifts around the clock to restore service.
Because the weather conditions impacted the entire Midwest, many crews from other utilities usually available through mutual assistance are currently tending to their own power outages.
By Wednesday, approximately 200 crews — from as far away as Colorado and Pennsylvania — are expected to arrive in southeast Michigan to assist with restoration efforts.
"We expect to have the storm damaged cleaned up as quickly as we possibly can," Lauer said.
More than 1,500 downed power lines have been reported. Residents are reminded to should stay at least 20 feet away from downed power lines and anything they're in contact with, such as metal fences and cars. Treat every downed power line as if it were energized.
Stay with WWJ Newsradio 950 for the latest during Traffic and Weather, every 10 minutes on the 8s. Check the CBS Detroit weather page for the extended forecast and up-to-the-minute information.
