Indiana & Michigan Power is dealing with major outages further inland in Southern Michigan. The worst of the storms rolled past much of Berrien County, but impacted 50 miles or so East. I & M said in a statement that thousands of homes and businesses are affected:
A line of severe thunderstorms this morning moved through much of I&M’s service area disrupting service to customers. By late morning more than 11,000 customers were without power – a majority of impacted customers are in the southwest Michigan area, including the hard hit area of Three Rivers.
I&M has a robust crew of 500 employees dedicated to storm restoration. Crews from Fort Wayne are heading to southwest Michigan, South Bend and Elkhart areas to restore power once it’s safe to do so. With storms predicted for much of the service territory today and tonight, restoration efforts may be hindered. It’s not safe for lineworkers to work aloft in bucket trucks or on the ground with electrical equipment amid strong winds, lightning and heavy rain.
Estimated restoration times will be communicated with affected customers after damage has been assessed. Now is the time to make sure you are connected with I&M. You can
- Monitor the status of your outage at com/App
- Sign up for text and email alerts on the app or at com/Alerts
- View outages and estimates at com/OutageMap
SAFETY INFO
Please pay attention to several safety precautions:
- Downed power lines. Stay away from any downed wires and report them to I&M by calling 1-800-311-4634, or call 911.
- Be careful around debris and fences. Fallen limbs and other debris can hide downed power lines, and a downed line may be contacting a fence out of line of sight. Look around carefully. Trees could fall or drop limbs at any moment, please look up.
- Traffic lights may not be functioning. Please use caution and be mindful of first responders and utility workers on the roadways.
For your safety, please do not approach I&M employees and contractors working to restore power. •
For more safety tips visit IndianaMichiganPower.com/Weather