DTE update: expect 90% of customers restored by Sunday

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WEB UPDATE (4:50 p.m.): About 200,000 DTE Energy customers have had power restored, leaving 570,000 still awaiting services to be restored, a company spokesperson said.

It's been more than a day since the strong winds knocked the power out to hundreds of thousands of people and there are still 570,000 customers still in the dark.

DTE said the storm is the largest weather event in the company's history and has caused more power outages than any other. As of 10 a.m. Thursday, DTE says more than 665,000 customers are still without power. 

During a press conference Thursday afternoon, DTE officials said a over 4,000 lines were blown down in the storm.

DTE expects to have 90 percent of those knocked offline, back online by the end of the day on Sunday.

Crews are working 16-hour shifts to assess the storm damage and have been joined in the effort by other crews from Kentucky, Indiana, Tennessee, New York and Pennsylvania.

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The bulk of the restoration efforts started Thursday as well as the clean-up, to take care of everything the wind left behind.

As many as 700,000 DTE customers were without power at one point.

"Again I'd emphasize safety," DTE President and CEO Trevor Lauer said. "If you see a downed power line, please call DTE Energy. We have crews all over the metropolitan area from the thumb down to Monroe dealing with down power wires.

Lauer says that is the first order of business - after that, restoring power.

"Given the size and our history with storms like this in the utility industry," Lauer said. "I would expect we would have the vast majority of our customers back in the next couple days."

Some may not have power back until the weekend, line workers from out of state will start arriving Thursday morning to help.