Lights Back On Following Planned Power Outage In Detroit
DETROIT (WWJ) - All of the lights are back on after a planned power outage in parts of Detroit and Highland Park.
On a cold day, with a windchill around 11 degrees, three community buildings opened as warming centers and citizens rallied together to protect their neighborhoods Wednesday morning during the outage that impacted thousands of residents and businesses.
The lights turned off for residents in an area bounded by Woodward to Dequindre and from just south of Six Mile Road to Seven Mile Road when DTE Energy pulled the plug at 6 a.m.
"We do understand that it's a great inconvenience. We certainly would like to do this another way if we could, but in terms of making sure that the overall integrity of the system is maintained and that the larger circuit is in good working order, this is the time that we determined it was most appropriate for us to do this kind of work," said DTE's Alejandro Bodipo-Memba.
Crews upgraded an underground circuit in the I-75 corridor between State Fair and McNichols. DTE had said the outage could last up to eight hours, but they had everyone back on before 11 a.m.
The work is expected to make the circuit more reliable and not as prone to "unplanned" outages.
A local gas station owner hopes the fix makes a difference in his neighborhood.
"They say it's for the future ... they'll have less outages. Because we lost power in the past, you know, about three times in the last five years," he said. "Especially in the summertime when you have a thunderstorm or a tornado or something like that, we're the first people to lose power here."
Earlier Wednesday, volunteers were out patrolling to keep the area safe from those hoping to capitalize on the power outage.
"To patrol the area because when the power goes out, the criminals come out," said local minister Malik Shabazz, adding that vounteers were not meant to act as police, but instead work with the police to call 911 at any sign of trouble.
