Power outages continue; some may be in the dark for days
Trending
ALPENA -- Some residents may have to do without electricity over the weekend after 60-mile-per-hour gusts toppled trees in Northeast Michigan on Tuesday, knocking out power to thousands of homes and businesses.
Repair work for Presque Isle Electric and Gas customers may last at least another day, said Derek McLennan, PIE&G member services manager.
The company on its online outage map reported 2,800 Northeast Michigan customers still without power as of 4 p.m. Friday, down from about 5,800 on Thursday evening.
Snapped power poles, trees on wires, and downed wires slowed repair progress, as did Thursday's sustained high winds that thwarted workers' progress, McLennan said.
"As soon as we'd get one back on, the wind would take it back off," he said.
Slower wind speeds on Friday would, he hoped, allow workers to make many repairs, but some customers should still expect to go without power for several days, he said.
All but 15 of Alpena Power Company's 16,700 customers had power by noon on Friday. On Thursday, the company reported 2,300 customers had lost power, of which 2,250 had been restored by 8 p.m., according to Alpena Power presiden Ken Dragiowicz.
About 7,400 Northeast Michigan Consumers Energy customers remained without power as of 4 p.m. Friday, most of them in Alcona County.
Repairs for those outages were expected as early as 6 p.m. Friday and as late as 7:30 p.m. Saturday, according to the company's outage map.
The company on Friday provided one free pizza to Alcona County customers impacted by the outage. It provided free food to residents in its hardest-hit areas to thank customers for patience and to help them weather the outage, Consumers representative Terry DeDoes said.