Thousands of Southeast Michigan residents without power after high winds
Thousands of Southeast Michigan residents are without power Sunday afternoon, more than a day after high winds took hold in the region.
The National Weather Service in Detroit issued a high wind warning that was in effect until 10 p.m. Friday for an area that includes Lapeer, Lenawee, Livingston, Macomb, Monroe, Oakland, St. Clair, Washtenaw and Wayne counties. The NWS said in a special weather statement issued at 12:42 p.m. Friday that wind gusts were reaching in excess of 55 mph, including a gust of 71 mph observed in Ann Arbor.
CBS News Detroit's weather team issued a Next Weather Alert day for Friday with the expected conditions.
DTE, whose electric service area includes most of Southeast Michigan, showed 6,270 customers on its outage map as of 12:07 p.m. Sunday. Those outages were all over the Metro Detroit area.
Over 94,000 people were without service on Friday night, according to the utility.
Wind damage was listed as the cause for many of the outages.
DTE said Saturday morning it had assigned more than 1,000 crew members to restore power "as quickly and safely as possible."
"Please stay safe in the event of any downed power lines," DTE said Friday.
If you do lose power to a refrigerator or freezer, the U.S. Department of Agriculture says to keep the doors closed on those appliances. A fully stocked refrigerator can stay cold for about four hours; if the power outage lasts longer, then transfer perishable foods into a cooler stocked with ice. A freezer will keep its temperature for 24 hours if half full, or 48 hours if full.
