A severe storm with gusty winds and heavy downpours blew through Livingston County late Monday afternoon, leaving thousands of residents and businesses without power.
As of 10 a.m. Tuesday, DTE Energy’s outage map indicated more than 260,000 of its customers in southeast Michigan are without power, approximately 20,000 of them in Livingston County.
“More than 260,000 customers are currently without power due to the severe storms and 70 mph winds that swept through Michigan on Monday. Our crews are securing the more than 3,300 downed power lines, assessing damage and beginning restoration. Crews from across the country are being brought in to assist in this effort. We expect to restore 80% of customers impacted by this storm by end of day Thursday. Report any downed power lines or outages here or through our DTE app as our telephone service is currently experiencing interruptions. Please be safe and remember to stay at least 20 feet from any downed power lines — assume they are live and dangerous.”
According to The Detroit News, DTE’s outages largely affected areas around Mount Clemens, the western and northern shores of Lake St. Clair, Rochester Hills, Lake Orion, Wixom, Howell and Pinckney.
Winds reached 70 mph in Detroit, 58 mph in White Lake and Romulus, 60 mph in Canton Township and 63 mph in Mount Clemens. Lapeer County reported 74 mph winds, snapping a 130-foot-tall pine tree.
Large trees and limbs were reported to have fallen across Wardlow Road in Milford and in Richmond, Fenton, Rochester, Howell and Taylor, ranging from 6-12 inches in diameter.
Joe Musallam , who oversees operations for DTE, told Michigan Radio most outages were caused by trees falling on power lines and high winds breaking poles.
“The storm system was most intense coming across the state through the Lansing area and then landing into the Webberville, Fowlerville, Brighton, Pinckney, those areas we’re seeing quite a bit of outages,” he told the station.
