Storms hammer Midwest, leave 850K without power

Severe thunderstorms that hit the Midwest on Wednesday overnight into Thursday left more than 850,000 people without power across states including Michigan, Wisconsin and Ohio. 

According to data from Poweroutage.us, Michiganders bore the brunt of the power outages, with more than 770,000 without power as of the early afternoon Thursday.

There were also more than 65,000 outages reported in Ohio, more than 60,000 in Wisconsin and nearly 35,000 in Indiana. 

Two of Michigan’s largest energy companies, DTE Energy and Consumers Energy, kept residents updated as they worked to restore power to impacted areas, with DTE saying Thursday morning that 70 mph winds had damaged more than 3,000 power lines across the state. 

Over 500,000 customers are without power after 2 intense waves of weather swept through yesterday afternoon and again early this morning. Wind gusts over 70 mph and heavy rain caused extensive damage, including more than 3k downed wires, broken poles and tree-related damage. pic.twitter.com/LWTEKGikoa

— DTE_Energy (@DTE_Energy) August 12, 2021

DTE said the severe storms caused broken poles and other damage from fallen trees, with crews being sent out to assess and estimate the total costs of damages throughout the day. 

The energy company said that as of Thursday morning, more than 500,000 of its customers were still without power, adding that its employees and contractors were “working 16-hour shifts around the clock to quickly and safely secure downed wires and restore power to our customers.” 

“More than 1,800 DTE personnel are working to restore service, and we have called in more than 1,000 out-of-state linemen to help,” DTE added in a tweet. 

Restoration estimates will be available on the DTE Energy Outage Map (https://t.co/h9dywhqqnQ) as crews are assigned to each outage and assess damage throughout the day. Thank you for your patience and understanding as we work to safely restore power as quick as possible. pic.twitter.com/x0WwE4Fkcs

— DTE_Energy (@DTE_Energy) August 12, 2021

According to Consumer Energy’s website, more than 238,000, or 87 percent, of its customers remained impacted by nearly 5,000 reported outages as of Thursday afternoon. 

Consumer Energy tweeted that more than 100,000 of the 350,000 of its customers initially without power have had their electricity restored as of 8 a.m. Thursday. 

“Our crews are on the ground working until everyone is back on,” the company said. 

More than 100,000 of the 350,000 customers without power have been restored as of 8 a.m. Thursday. Our crews are on the ground working until everyone is back on. Get outage updates here: https://t.co/gByoIO1E7f pic.twitter.com/INXgpodGZA

— Consumers Energy (@ConsumersEnergy) August 12, 2021

The National Weather Service had issued flash flood warnings for Michigan’s Macomb County, southern Oakland County and northern Wayne County until 9 a.m. Thursday.  

Local weather service meteorologist Sara Schultz said 2 to 4 inches of rain had fallen during the storms, according to the Detroit Free Press. 

The Detroit Metropolitan Airport had tweeted early Thursday that nearby roadways were flooded as a result of the storms. It later said that some streets had reopened, but travelers may experience flooding as they head to the airport. 

Hours later, the airport tweeted the directory for airlines, telling customers to “contact your airline directly” if they wished to change their travel plans.

FLOODING UPDATE: Lucas Drive has reopened at Middlebelt Road. However, flooding on roadways to DTW continues to impact traffic. Allow yourself extra time if you’re heading to the airport. Drive safely!

— DTW Airport (@DTWeetin) August 12, 2021

If you have questions about your upcoming travel plans or want to change your flight, contact your airline directly. Check out our airline directory at https://t.co/lyMbocNtgS #flyDTW

— DTW Airport (@DTWeetin) August 12, 2021