Power Outages Strike Michigan Homes, Businesses
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(DETROIT) — Over 100,000 homes and businesses across Michigan are spending Christmas without power after an ice storm.
Consumers Energy says 318,000 of its customers lost power from the storm, and 120,000 customers are still in the dark.
DTE Energy says they have already restored power to approximately 130,000 customers out of its 150,000 who were impacted by the storm. And in DTE Energy’s Southeastern Michigan service area, crews are working around the clock to get the lights back on for the 18,000 customers still without power.
DTE Energy spokesperson Erica Donerson said, “Our crews, our employees, we are not celebrating Christmas with our families because we need to get power restored and everyone understands that.”
Mike Vogel, of Clarkston, Mich., a Detroit suburb, says his family’s home lost electricity Saturday evening. They’re using a generator to make meals and heat their home.
“I just wonder how long it will keep going, you know, before it just finally gives out, just because it’s been going for four days straight,” Vogel said.
Vogel said DTE Energy’s app keeps telling him power will be restored that evening.
“Every day we’ve hoped today is the day and then it doesn’t happen and then the next morning it says 11:30 that day it’s going to fixed so it just seems to keep rolling over,” Vogel said.
But Donerson says the winter weather may be slowing down the restoration process.
“We’re expecting significant wind gusts today, which could make restoration, more challenging and cause even more outages,” Donerson said.
Power outages have also reached over 56,000 customers in Maine and over 94,000 in Canada.
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