Charles E. Ramirez,Marnie MuñozThe Detroit News
Crews spent Wednesday pushing to restore power to thousands of Michigan residents who lost electricity after powerful storms slammed the state, leaving downed lines and toppled trees.
DTE Energy reported that more than 330,000 customers lost power in the storm, and it had restored power to more than 169,000customers Wednesday afternoon.
"We expect to restore more than 70% of customers by the end of the day today and 90% by the end of Thursday," the company said in a news release.Thousands of DTE employees and 1,300 line workers from outside the area were in the field and were to work through the night to restore power.
Consumers Energy said nearly two-thirds of its customers who lost power had electricity restored by Wednesday night. On Tuesday night, it reported more than 190,000 customers were affected by the storm. Many of its customers were in Kent, Ionia, Montcalm, Gladwin, Midland, Bay and Clare counties.
Crews from Michigan and others from Kentucky, Illinois, Ohio, Indiana, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Tennessee were working on restoration, the company said in a release.
“Our #1 priority is to get the lights back on safely and quickly for the households and businesses who are counting on us,” said Chris Fultz, one of Consumers Energy’s Officers in Charge for restoration, in the statement. “Our lineworkers have trained for situations like this. We’re bringing in more crews to ensure we meet our commitments to our customers.”
As warm temperatures linger amid the outages, Consumers offered residents who lost power free ice and water in Rockford and Midland. DTE has sent vans to some of the hardest hit areas in Milford, Wayne, Whitmore Lake and Detroit, distributing bottles of water, bags of ice and energy kits.
The storms cut a wide swath across the state.
Tree limbs were toppled in cities such as Ann Arbor, Detroit and Pleasant Ridge.
Plymouth was hit hard by the overnight storms, officials said.
"The north section of the city was hit hardest with tree damage and trees falling on a few houses," the city said in a post on its Facebook page. "A majority of the city is without power and DTE Energy is aware of the situation."
Officials added: "Police, fire and municipal services have been responding to calls for service since 2:30 a.m. There are multiple power lines down. Several streets are blocked due to tree damage or power lines down. The Downtown Area is without power at this time and some traffic signals are not working. Use extreme caution when driving today."
Plymouth Township police issued an alert advising drivers to avoid Beck Road near State Highway 14, where the storm struck down a set of railroad crossing gates.
While the storm wasn't the worst the city of Birmingham has seen, they received around 20 calls reporting downed wires, trees, and branches, said Fire Chief and Emergency Manager Paul Wells.
"With wires down and tree branches and some trees that were leaning on wires, a couple wires that were on structures like garages and houses, but it was nothing too bad, you know, nothing like we've seen in the past," Wells said. "We had some trees across the road where the firefighters had to, you know, get out and cut up the trees to make the roads passable."
There were no injuries from power lines or tree branches reported in the city, and DTE Energy did a good job relieving fire standing by downed power lines, Wells said.
Severe rain storms also caused power outages throughout Rochester, officials said.
The storm hit Oakland County shortly before 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, sparking three emergency calls in the span of two hours for capsized vessels to the Oakland County Sheriff's Office, officials said in a Wednesday release.
Another caller reported a missing kayaker shortly before 7 p.m., and two previous callers reported possible drownings. The six incident calls took place on Walled Lake, Tull Lake, Walnut Lake and Cass Lake, according to the release.
All people involved in the reported incidents were safely recovered and accounted for by the end of the day, according to the release.
The six emergency calls that came in during a span of 90 minutes were unprecedented for OCSO, but first responders were able to respond to each incident, according to the release.
“The night had a violent storm that had the potential of inflicting serious injuries or death in addition to property damage,” Sheriff Michael Bouchard said. “From our call takers to the first responders, our team handled seamlessly the massive number of calls for service in amazing fashion.”
Due to the severe thunderstorms, Southfield Public Schools officials said Wednesday's classes were canceled because of electrical service interruptions at several of its buildings.
Power had ben restored at Henry Ford Health system's West Bloomfield hospital, which had been running on generators, said spokesperson Lauren Zakalik on Wednesday night.
On Wednesday, the Rochester Community Schools district said two of its buildings, University Hills and Meadow Brook Elementary Schools, were closed for the day due to an outage.
"There will be no school or School-Age Care (SAC) programs at these locations only," they said in a message to parents. "All other RCS schools will remain open; however, bus delays are possible as crews clean debris from the roads."
Ann Arbor Public Schools are also closed Wednesday, district officials said.
Eastpointe Community Schools remained open, but district officials said school buses would only run on major roads to avoid down trees.
Royal Oak Schools announced multiple closures including Royal Oak High School, and Oak Ridge, Northwood and Upton Elementary Schools.
Utica Community Schools announced another 11 schools in their district would also close due to power outages.
Officials announced that all Ypsilanti Community Schools buildings would close for the day due to more power and internet outages.
More severe weather could be on the way to southeast Michigan, according to the National Weather Service. The agency has issued a hazardous weather outlook for the region, including for Macomb, Oakland and Wayne counties.
Extended Metro Detroit forecast
Thursday: Mostly cloudy; high 80, low 67
Friday: Mostly sunny; high 88, low 67
Saturday: Mostly sunny; high 83, low 62
Sunday: Sunny; high 82, low 55
Monday: Sunny; high 72, low 52
Tuesday: Mostly sunny; high 73
Source: National Weather Service
Staff Writers Hannah Mackay and Anne Snabes contributed.
