JACKSON, MI (WTVB) – Over 4,800 Consumer’s Energy customers in Branch County are starting a new week without power following a pair of vicious storms on Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning.
Over 11,000 customers were knocked into the dark at the height of the outages in Branch County.
Five days after the first of three storm waves statewide, Consumers Energy announced late Sunday night more than 98 percent of all electric customers now have power, with most expected to be restored overnight.
“We are very pleased with the progress made given the extent of the damage,” said Guy Packard, Consumers Energy’s vice president for electric operations. “With much of the state wrapped up, we’re consolidating crews in the southernmost counties in our final push for this storm.”
Branch, St. Joseph, Hillsdale and Jackson counties experienced significant damage when the third wave of the storm rolled through early Thursday. Packard hosted a call with local leaders and emergency officials in those regions on Sunday to update them on progress and answer questions.
As outage numbers tick steadily downward, line workers will continue around-the-clock restoration work until all service is restored.
Thousands of workers, including contractors from seven states, have worked tirelessly since late Tuesday with a goal to restore power to all 370,000 homes and businesses that lost power.
This storm was one of the 10 most significant in company history with more than 7,000 wires down and over 200 poles damaged across Michigan.
In many areas, repairs included upgraded poles, conductors and crossarms made to withstand higher wind speeds and greater tree damage.
As of early Monday morning, about 29,000 Consumer’s Energy customers system wide were without power. That included over 2,300 customers in Calhoun County, over 6,800 in Hillsdale County and over 4,300 in St. Joseph County.
Consumer’s says the restoration for most of their Branch County customers is now scheduled for late Monday night.
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