Crews Push Through Last Stretch of Restoration Work as Final Storms Pass Through State
Of more than 320,000 customers impacted by the storm events, more than 85% have been restored
Consumers Energy crews are focusing now on the final and most complicated restorations left after another storm system made its way through the state this afternoon and evening, resulting in approximately 40,000 additional customers losing power due to high winds and falling debris.
This was the latest wave of severe weather in series of intermittent storms, spanning five days and impacting hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses, to pass through the state. Of the more than 320,000 customers impacted by the storm events, more than 85 percent have already been restored.
“There is no question the last five days have been deeply challenging for our customers and our lineworkers alike,” said Chris Fultz, one of Consumers Energy’s Officers in Charge of restoration. “Yet even as our co-workers continue encountering new problems in the field, their resiliency and determination has allowed us to stay focused and efficient during this restoration process. We’re grateful to them for their incredible dedication, and to our customers for their understanding and patience.”
Consumers Energy is working with local first responders and law enforcement in Crawford, Otsego, Oscoda and Alcona counties to provide free water throughout the day tomorrow to customers impacted by the storms.
The restoration efforts are broken down into two distinct categories:
- Northern Michigan: Consumers Energy has restored about 75 percent of the 97,000 customers who lost power due to the initial ice storms, with plans for the majority of customers in the region to be restored by the end of the day Friday.
- Southern Michigan: Consumers Energy has restored about 90 percent of the almost 223,000 customers who lost power between the high winds and severe thunderstorms that impacted the region Sunday and Wednesday afternoons.
Land
Caring for our Lands
Our power plants, natural gas pipelines and electric wires stretch across thousands of acres in the Lower Peninsula. As one of the state’s largest landowners, we take our responsibility to care for our lands seriously. Our foresters work to balance the economic, cultural and ecological needs of our forests while providing reliable power and natural gas to our 6.8 million customers. Our wildlife experts care for and protect the species on our lands.
From Trees to Budding Seeds
We have been involved in land preservation since the early 20th century. We hired teams of tree planters to help reforest watersheds around dams that were ravaged by fires and excessive logging. We have planted more than two million trees along the Au Sable, Manistee and Muskegon rivers and support tree planting efforts across the state.
Our land conservation efforts extend beyond trees. We plant pollinator habitats to help bees and butterflies flourish. We have also enrolled over 259,000 acres of our lands that includes areas around dams, our natural gas and distribution lines and our service centers, to help restore monarch habitats and grow the monarch population. Our plantings also control erosion and help protect Michigan’s wetlands. Other projects we are working on include protecting endangered or threatened species like turtles, bats, snakes and birds.
We Watch Over Animals on Our Lands
Foresters, land managers and environmental planners watch over wildlife and keep a close eye on threatened and endangered species. Our wildlife management plans include protecting bald eagles, Karner blue butterflies, trumpeter swans and Indiana bats.
For more than 20 years, we have been part of a national conservation effort to restore the trumpeter swan population. We have released 26 young adult trumpeter swans into wetlands behind several hydroelectric plants. These swans raise their young on our lands along the lower Au Sable River and in lakes and beaver ponds in the Huron-Manistee National Forest. More than 200 of these birds winter in these spots every year.
We also protect and monitor wetlands. As part of this effort, we have nest box programs for wood ducks, bluebirds, purple martins, tree swallows and kestrels. We collaborate with state and federal agencies and advocacy groups to work with wildlife officials in the Huron-Manistee National Forest.
To learn more about our land and wildlife efforts, please see our Biodiversity Report.
Sharing our Lands with You
We are happy to share our lands with those who enjoy the great outdoors. We invite you to get closer to nature at the public lands around our hydro facilities. Whether you like to walk, camp, bike or canoe, our public lands are yours to enjoy. We work with governments, volunteer organizations and private business to manage our public-access lands.
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