Thousands are without power following severe thunderstorms in the Lansing area over the weekend.
As of 6 p.m. Monday, nearly 140,000 Consumers Energy customers statewide were without power. Many are in the Lansing area, but Consumers spokesperson Tracy Wimmer said the total also includes thousands of customers in Northern Michigan. That part of the state was hit by severe ice storms before the 80-90 mile per hour winds that passed through mid-Michigan.
“We had already been working and doing a lot of the restoration up north when the storm came through last night, and now we’ve got crews in both locations,” Wimmer said.
The utility is preparing for another round of storms expected later this week. But Wimmer noted that many of the crews working to restore power from the last set of storms will still be on the ground.
“We’ve got crews working in 16-hour shifts 24/7, but we’re making sure that everybody gets the rest they need because we know that we’re probably going to need to do this again in a few days,” Wimmer said.
Most Consumers customers should have power restored by Tuesday evening, with areas facing more extreme damage expected to be reconnected by Wednesday.
In Lansing, there were around 200 additional customers without power as of Monday evening, according to the Lansing Board of Water and Light outage map.
That’s in part due to lightning strikes that brought down six power poles, each of which can take around four hours to replace.
The Board of Water and Light hopes to have power restored to most, if not all, customers by Monday night.
Wimmer said the combination of the two intense storms, with more possibly on the way, is “a reminder that we know more extreme weather events are going to continue happening.”
“The number has increased over the last several years, and we know that that’s only going to get worse as the climate continues to change,” Wimmer said.
Consumers Energy is a financial supporter of WKAR.
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