UNDATED (WTVB) – Crews are continuing to restore power to thousands after powerful winds socked Lower Michigan on Friday. Winds up to 60 miles an hour damaged power lines and Consumers Energy says more than 88,000 customers lost power at the height of the outages.
As of 6:00 a.m. Saturday morning, there were still nearly 40,000 customers without power. Some will be spending a weekend in the dark.
The latest estimate from Consumers is calling for most customers to have their power back by late Sunday night. Those in the hardest hit areas won’t get their power back until Monday evening.
Counties hardest hit include Genesee where over 15,000 customers were out. Other counties hit hard were Saginaw, Ionia, Montcalm and Kent.
Company Vice President Guy Packard says the strong winds resulted in more than 1,600 downed power lines and over 200 broken poles.
About 100 mutual assistance employees are arriving Saturday from Iowa, Minnesota, Virginia and Wisconsin to help restore power.
About 2,300 customers in Calhoun County lost their power for a time on Friday. There were numerous outages reported north of Union City in the Burlington and East Leroy areas.
As of 6:00 a.m. Saturday, there were 53 customers in Branch County without power, 49 in Calhoun County and 29 in Hillsdale County.
The Branch County Memorial Airport recorded a peak wind gust of 47 miles an hour just before noon on Friday.
