Power outages linger into Monday after Friday storms in Southeast Michigan
Power outages have lingered into Monday for thousands of Southeast Michigan residents affected by the severe storms and strong winds that rolled through the area Friday.
The number of DTE customers who are without power on Monday morning was shown at 79,469 as of 6 a.m. Monday morning. That's a significant improvement from the 168,000 shown on the outage map at 12:10 a.m. Sunday. DTE provides electricity to most of Metro Detroit and Southeast Michigan; Consumers Energy provides service to parts of Monroe and Lenawee counties.
Hundreds of crew members from 12 states and Canada were called to Michigan over the weekend to help speed up restoration, according to DTE.
"We estimate that 95% of impacted customers will be restored by the end of the day Monday, July 6," the company said early in the morning.
DTE set up bottled water and emergency supply pickups to affected residents in Dearborn and Monroe over the weekend.
Brian Calka, senior vice president of distribution operations with DTE Energy,
said that Friday's storms were one of the most impactful in regard to damage to the company's system that he's seen in his 20 years in the energy industry. Around 2,000 power lines were down after the severe weather, with a large part of the damage happening in Monroe County.
"We have many cases where we have outages with eight to 10 to 12 broken poles, and in order to restore all the customers who are impacted by that outage, every one of those poles has to be replaced," he said. "To replace a pole, it's anywhere from three to four to five hours, depending on the location of that pole."
Here's what you need to know for Monday:
County-by-county data
The PowerOutage.com website tracks all electricity companies in Michigan and shows the power outages by county as of 6:30 a.m. Monday for Metro Detroit as follows:
- Wayne County - 51,446
- Oakland County - 11,882
- Monroe County - 6,801
- Washtenaw County - 4,832
- Macomb County - 4,420
Of those listed, Monroe County has the highest impact percentage-wise, with 9.19% of the county's electric customers without power on Monday morning.
Cancellations and closings
Some school districts report that their summer school or day camp schedules will be changed because of the power outages.
Monroe Public Schools has canceled summer school classes, athletics, and most activities for Monday; the Knabusch Math and Science Center will be open Monday. MPS staff and crews will be working to check that facilities and buildings are operational before services resume.
Sterling State Park in Monroe County said it had no power over the weekend, and the latest estimates are that it will be restored Monday evening. Public bathroom facilities are limited; visitors can use the older "vault" style toilet facilities. Campers with reservations can call the reservation center at 800-447-2757.
Ypsilanti Community Schools says Grizzly Learning Camp and Bright Futures for YCS are both canceled for Monday.
Trash and debris pickup
The City of Taylor says its Department of Public Works crews will pick up storm debris at curbside this week, mirroring the trash routes. Residents can also drop off storm debris at the compost center, 16300 Racho Road.
Flares at Marathon refinery
In response to a power outage affecting the Maraton refinery in Detroit, company officials said on Sunday they were managing a controlled burning of gases