Consumers Energy handling power outages after back-to-back storms

MID-MICHIGAN (WNEM) - Just as Consumers Energy was making headway on power outages following last week’s storm, the snow and ice on Monday added more outages to their list.

“We have about 45,000 customers across the Greater Mid-Michigan area without power,” said Brian Wheeler, media relations manager for Consumers Energy.

Monday afternoon’s winter storm brought a wintery mix of snow and freezing rain, bringing down powerlines across the region and leaving some Consumers Energy customers without power.

“It’s rare to see two significant storms like this back-to-back. It causes some challenges,” Wheeler said.

Challenges that residents in one Clio community are dealing with. They have been without power since around 3 p.m. on Monday and are preparing themselves for a night without electricity.

“You know, temperatures dropping in the house, so ran over to Walmart to go pick up a few things,” said Dennis Blom, a Clio resident. “You hear generators running up and down.”

“We have like, a heating pier heater to help kind of keep the house maintained. We have our refrigerator hooked up. We got one lamp, our phone chargers, and that’s pretty much it, just the basics,” said Matthew Hyatt, another Clio resident.

Residents are patiently waiting for the power to return, hoping they will not have to wait as long as downstate customers, some of whom only got their power restored on Sunday.

“We’re really focused on getting power back to those who’ve been waiting so patiently,” Wheeler said. “And now we’re going to get to work restoring power to those who are seeing new outages right now.”

Wheeler said more than 600 crews are working around the clock to get power restored to all customers, finishing their work in the south before moving northward.

“Given current conditions, we’re projecting that most people will get their power back by the end of the day Wednesday,” Wheeler said. “Many people will see power back sooner.”

Wheeler said Consumers is looking at about 80,000 customers without power right now, and with more winter weather on the way, he doesn’t expect that number to change dramatically.

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