8/25/2021- 10:26 a.m.
The state’s two largest utilities — DTE Energy and Consumers Energy — reported at about 10 p.m. Tuesday, more than 126,000 power customers had been affected by the storm. By early Wednesday, that number had been cut by nearly 40%, to less than 80,000.
And on top of being powerless, Michiganders in metro Detroit also face a heat advisory from 1-8 p.m. Wednesday. The mercury is expected to rise into the 90s, but with the humidity, it will feel like it’s 100 — or more, forecasters said.
Residents who now have no electricity to help them keep cool, the stifling temperatures could even be lethal.
Considine added that with more heat and storms, it could get a lot worse before it gets better.
“The severe weather we saw once again left behind a path of destruction, and now our crews are back at it to restore power as quickly and safely as possible to all of our impacted customers,” Guy Packard, a Consumers Energy vice president, said early Wednesday. “We appreciate our customers’ patience as crews work around the clock to evaluate the damage and turn the lights back on for everyone.”
Meanwhile, Attorney General Dana Nessel is launching an online effort to allow residents and business owners with power outages to detail their experiences, including how long the outage lasted and the financial loss suffered.
“It remains unacceptable that Michigan residents have grown to expect power outages every time there’s severe weather in the forecast,” Nessel said. “We can — and must — do better. I appreciate the public’s help by providing my office with information on the hardships they faced during extended outages.”
Tuesday’s downpours and future storm forecasts also brought fears of more flash flooding and flashbacks to recent weather events that more than once this summer turned roadways into canals and basements into swimming pools.
In some areas, there was 1-2 inches of rain, gusts up to 66 m.p.h. and severe tree damage. There’s a 30% chance of more showers Wednesday night, and a 40% chance, Thursday, a warning for folks whose homes are in areas prone to flooding.
The Great Lakes Water Authority — which provides water and sewer services for southeast Michigan and has been under fire for recent flooding — issued a severe weather alert Tuesday to residents, especially those in low areas.
Consumers Energy reported nearly 70,000 customers without power Tuesday night, most of them in central Michigan, near Mt. Pleasant, toward the western side of the state, and in the Midland and Saginaw areas, near the Thumb. By early morning Wednesday, power was reconnected to about 31,000 households.
DTE’s outage map showed about 57,000 customers with no electricity Tuesday night throughout the metro Detroit area, including Dearborn, Livonia, Wixom, White Lake Township, Oxford, Waterford, and Sterling Heights. By early Wednesday morning, power had been restored to about 16,000 customers.
Both companies have been facing criticism from frustrated customers, consumer watchdogs, and government officials, who argued that more needs to be done to improve power reliability, which lags far behind other states.
Last week, power company DTE Energy said amid growing criticism that it had “voluntarily issued” $100 credits — significantly more than the $25 credits it normally offers — as a one-time courtesy to customers who still remained out of power on Monday morning from last week’s storms.
Nessel also said Monday she was “once again calling” on the state’s two power companies “to voluntarily credit customers affected by the outages and to provide greater credits to assist customers who have lost hundreds of dollars or more in food and alternative housing costs.”
And the Michigan League of Conservation Voters piled on, calling for the Michigan Public Service Commission and the Legislature to conduct oversight hearings on the failures by DTE and Consumers Energy to prevent outages and reconnect customers following summer storms.
DTE Energy and Consumers Energy also have been criticized for multimillion-dollar executive compensation, and according to a report by a Washington, D.C., think tank, for being among 55 publicly traded corporations last year that paid no federal corporate income taxes.
