Thousands Still Without Power After Storms Slam Lower Michigan

If your Fourth of July weekend plans in Michigan came with no lights, no air conditioning, or a fridge you were suddenly worried about, you were not alone.

A strong line of storms rolled through Lower Michigan on Friday, leaving behind a mess just as people were heading into the holiday weekend. The storms knocked out power for hundreds of thousands of customers across the state, with downed trees, wires and damage reported in communities.

Consumers Energy said more than 120,000 customers were without power at the peak of the outage Friday evening. As of Sunday morning, about 57,000 Consumers Energy customers were still waiting to have their power restored.

Here in the Lansing area, the Lansing Board of Water and Light was reporting about 1,600 customers without power Sunday morning.

The southeast side of the state was hit hard, too. DTE Energy reported more than 150,000 customers still in the dark Sunday morning, after more than 300,000 customers were offline at the peak of the storms Friday night.

Consumers Energy said crews were mobilized and working around the clock to get the lights back on safely and as quickly as possible. The utility said lineworkers could be working shifts up to 16 hours as restoration efforts continue.

Ingham County was under a Tornado Warning during the storm system, though that warning has since expired. As of the latest update, it was not clear whether any tornadoes had been confirmed.

If you come across a downed line, do not go near it. Report it and let crews handle it.