Residents deal with power outages, sip coffee at downtown Howell shops
HOWELL - David Pinelli is counting the hours until his power returns.
Pinelli, 56, and his wife live on Caledonia Street in Howell. They lost power Monday evening when a series of thunderstorms roared across Michigan, and it’s still not back.
Pinelli said he heard his power won’t be restored until Friday. He's an IT consultant, so not having power is less than ideal.
“I live on my computer,” he said.
As of Wednesday afternoon, there were about 185,000 DTE Energy customers without power, according to the DTE website, down from a high of more than 265,000 immediately after the storms, which packed winds up to 70 mph.
According to an update from DTE Energy Wednesday morning, more than 1,000 workers from outside Michigan have joined the crews working to restore power.
During a press conference Tuesday afternoon, DTE representative Trevor Lauer said since Monday night, there were calls for about 4,000 outage events, including utility poles falling down or wires taken out by trees. There were about 3,200 different crews working on wire-down coverage Tuesday, Lauer said.
According to DTE Energy's outage map, there are power outages throughout DTE's service area, including dozens of locations in Livingston County. Restoration times locally, according to the website, range from 10 p.m. Wednesday to Friday night.
The most significant single outage area in the county is in the Lake Chemung area northeast of Howell where at least 1,501 customers are affected. DTE does not provide specific numbers of customers affected on its outage map, so the number affected could be higher.
Outages mostly stretch south of Interstate 96 south of Webberville to Whitmore Lake, but there are numerous areas affected between Howell and Brighton as well.
Pinelli sought out a location Wednesday where he could work, and headed to Black Iron Coffee Roasters in downtown to use their WiFi and enjoy a plum tea. He visits the shop often, but Wednesday was a necessity.
“I always try to come in here, power outage or not,” he said.
Desirae Murphy, a barista at the coffee shop, said Tuesday was busier than usual and Wednesday was as well. The coffee shop did not lose power.
Down the street, at Uptown Coffeehouse, Lorna Brennan, the owner, said the business didn’t lose power, but they were not able to be open Tuesday because of their staffing shortages.
One of their main pastry providers, however, in Fenton doesn’t have power, and didn't deliver pastries Wednesday. They won't have pastries Thursday, either. The shop was still busier than usual with people coming in to use the WiFi and power outlets to charge devices.
Michael Johnson, 71, lives in Howell and went to Uptown Coffeehouse to charge his phone and his portable charger. While he waited, he sipped a cappuccino and completed the New York Times crossword.
While there, he got a message that his power would be back on Wednesday.
“This has been the longest outage that I’ve experienced, maybe ever,” he said. “This is the first time ever that I’ve had an outage where the stuff in the fridge is going (bad).”
Johnson said he is not excited to have to restock his food, but he said the food isn’t the biggest issue for him.
“It’s mostly just the boredom of being home without having any of your electronic toys to play with,” he said. “It’s cut into my TV binge watching and my treadmill.”
He said longer power outages are dangerous for people his age because they don’t have the mobility to adjust to the situation. A lot of older people have CPAP machines or insulin that needs to stay refrigerated.
“There are people who are more than just inconvenienced by this. It’s difficult, you know, for a lot of people,” he said.
This article originally appeared on Livingston Daily: Livingston County residents deal with extended power outages
