Thousands still without power in Lenawee, Monroe counties after ice storm
Lenawee and Monroe counties remained impacted by Wednesday's ice storm Friday as thousands of people remained without power. Most areas were expected to be restored by Sunday, utility companies said, but restoration efforts will continue into next week.
In Lenawee County on Friday afternoon, there were 30,889 electric utility customers, or 63.17%, without power out of 48,897 customers tracked by the website poweroutage.us. The situation was better in Monroe County where 26.71% — 20,237 out of 75,759 customers — were without power.
More than 500 Consumers Energy crews from Michigan and four other states continued their around-the-clock work to restore power Friday. As of 11 a.m. Friday, crews had restored power to nearly one-third of some 250,000 affected homes and businesses, according to a news release from Consumers.
Consumers Energy projects that a majority of affected customers should have power back by Sunday. Restoration work will continue and be largely complete by the end of the day Monday, the release said.
More:Consumers Energy outage map
More:Poweroutage.us Michigan data
Consumers asked that people in its service areas report downed power lines by calling 800-477-5050.
As of 11 a.m. Friday, Midwest Energy & Communications reported that approximately 2,445 customers remained without power in southeast and southwest Michigan and northern Ohio. The majority of the outages were in Lenawee County, a news release from MEC said.
MEC's restoration efforts will continue into the weekend. Customers may experience blinks or short outages as crews work on repairs. MEC asks its customers to call 800-492-5989 if they need assistance.
More:Midwest Energy & Communications outage map
DTE Energy services the city of Monroe and the northern half of Monroe County. Consumers Energy services the southern half of Monroe County.
As of Friday afternoon, 467,938 DTE customers remained without power after what the utility called the "worst ice event that we have experienced in the past 50 years." A news release from DTE said that 95% of its customers will have their power restored by the end of Sunday.
DTE reminds its customers to be safe and remember to stay at least 25 feet from any downed power lines — assume they are live and dangerous." Any outage or downed power line can be reported by calling 800-477-4747 or online at outage.dteenergy.com/report-outage.
A number of services were affected and offices closed Friday. The Lenawee County Annex Building was closed impacting departments including the elections office, vital records and the public defender’s office. The Rex B Martin Judicial Building was closed for the second consecurtive day. Any scheduled court proceedings will be rescheduled at a later date. Offices in the old courthouse were open, according to news releases from the county.
The Lenawee County Department on Aging made every effort to resume home meal delivery Friday, despite some centers still not having power, a news release from the department said. The department's Adrian, Blissfield, Hudson and Addison centers were open and operating as usual, including home delivered meals. The department was offering these centers as places for seniors to get warm, get a meal, plug in and enjoy a hot cup of coffee.
The Morenci and Tecumseh sites were closed, but home delivered meals went out from those sites. Every attempt was being made to get to each meal delivery client, the release said.
Daybreak Adult Day Services in Adrian was open and operating as usual.
Previous coverage:Lenawee County, much of lower Michigan, picking up pieces after ice storm
Previous coverage:Thousands remain without power in Monroe County after ice storm
All ProMedica hospitals were open Friday. ProMedica facilities in Michigan that were closed were: ProMedica Physicians Family Medicine in Hudson; ProMedica Physicians Monroe Gastroenterology; ProMedica Physicians Eye Care – Monroe; ProMedica Physicians Family Medicine in Onsted; and ProMedica Adrian College Medical Clinic.
The Morenci Fire Department's Facebook page said that it responded to 85 calls for service within Morenci and Seneca and Medina townships during the ice storm Wednesday afternoon through Thursday evening.
The post urged residents to stay away from any and all wires. The post said that downed wires had been documented and the appropriate power companies had been contacted, but that residents should be careful as they continue to clean up from the storm.
This article originally appeared on The Daily Telegram: Thousands in Lenawee, Monroe counties remain without power
