9/8/21 - Power Outages & Damage Due to Storms

Severe storms moved across the state of Michigan on Tuesday, causing major damage and bringing down power lines.

GRAND RAPIDS, MI –(MLive) - About 95,000 homes and businesses are without power across Michigan after storms Tuesday, Sept. 7, brought gusts reaching 70 mph.

Saginaw County has 10,895 outages, while Kalamazoo County has 9,679, Consumers Energy reported Wednesday morning. Calhoun County had 3,747 outages, while Muskegon County had 2,990 and Osceola County had 2,677.

In all, 47,437 Consumers customers were without power. DTE reported 45,163 outages, primarily on the east side of the state.

Both utilities had crews working overnight to restore power. Consumers, with crews coming from Ohio and Alabama, has restored power to about 50,000 customers.

“Our crews and contractors did great work overnight, and we’re confident they will continue reconnecting customers will continue with today’s good weather,” Guy Packard, Consumers vice president for electric operations, said in a statement.

Most Consumers customers should have power restored by Thursday.

The storms started in the Traverse City area Tuesday morning and continued to move across the state through the night.

The National Weather Service in Grand Rapids said there were numerous reports of winds gusting from 40 to 70 mph during the storm, with “pockets of extensive tree damage.”

Some structures were damaged by falling trees and some roads were blocked by debris.

Orchard View Schools’ Cardinal Elementary in the Muskegon area is closed after sustaining storm damage.

The area near Baldwin and Big Star Lake sustained some of the worst damage, with hail reported up to 2 ½ inches. The weather service said that a corridor from Bangor to Kalamazoo to Battle Creek, and narrow corridor from Muskegon to north of Grand Rapids.

Skies will be partly cloudy today with temperatures in the upper 60s to mid-70s and a chance of a shower or thunderstorm in the afternoon, primarily north of I-96.

Wind gusts of 69 mph were recorded in Portage.

Closed today as result of power outages or damage:

Kalamazoo County:

-Parchment Schools

-Kalamazoo Central

-Spring Valley

Muskegon County:

-Cardinal Elementary Schools

-Muskegon Community College